Breakdown of Volim provjeriti opremu prije nego što se penjem.
voljeti
to love, to like
provjeriti
to check
oprema
equipment (f)
prije nego što
before
Questions & Answers about Volim provjeriti opremu prije nego što se penjem.
Why do we use the present tense se penjem after prije nego što?
When you talk about a general habit or something you do regularly, like checking equipment before every climb, you use prije nego što followed by the present tense. It perfectly matches the English present tense in 'before I climb'.
Why is provjeriti perfective but penjem imperfective here?
Provjeriti is perfective because the action of checking needs to be fully completed. You finish checking, and then you climb. Penjati se (which gives us se penjem) is imperfective because climbing is seen as an ongoing activity or a general hobby in this context.
Why does the reflexive pronoun se come right after što?
The word što starts a new clause, which resets the word order. Because se is an enclitic (a weak word that insists on taking the second position in its clause), it naturally attaches right after the starting word što.
Could I use a verbal noun here, like 'before climbing'?
Yes! Instead of using the full phrase prije nego što with a conjugated verb, you could just use the preposition prije followed by the genitive verbal noun: prije penjanja (before climbing). Both are very natural in Croatian.