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When planning events like a wedding or an engagement party, timing is everything! To express that one action happens *before* another, Farsi uses the phrase **قبل از اینکه**.

Because the event in the "before" clause hasn't happened yet at the time of the main action, the verb following **قبل از اینکه** must be in the **present subjunctive** mood.

### Present and Future Actions

When talking about routines, commands, or future obligations, the main verb takes the indicative or imperative, while the verb after **قبل از اینکه** takes the subjunctive.

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You can place the **قبل از اینکه** clause at the beginning of the sentence, or in the middle. The grammar remains exactly the same.

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### Talking About the Past

Here is a very important rule: even if the main action happened in the past, the verb following **قبل از اینکه** *still* uses the present subjunctive!

In English, we change both verbs to the past tense (for example, "before we *wrote*"). In Farsi, the main verb does the heavy lifting to show that the event is already over, while the "before" clause stays in the present subjunctive mood.

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Doing things before (ghabl az inke)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

suffix

verb

Singular pronouns and copula (man, -am)

Plural pronouns and copula (mâ, -im)

Subject pronoun omission

Singular demonstratives (in, ân)

Plural demonstratives (inhâ, ânhâ)

Independent copula (hastam, hast)

Negative present copula (nistam, nist)

Yes/No questions (âyâ)

Regular plurals (-hâ)

Animate plurals (-ân)

Indefiniteness (yek)

Indefinite marker (-i)

Describing nouns (-e / -ye)

Possession (-e / -ye)

Singular possessives (-am, -at, -ash)

Plural possessives (-emân, -etân, -eshân)

Basic prepositions (dar, be, az, bâ)

Spatial prepositions (ru-ye, zir-e...)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yek, do, se...)

Numbers and singular nouns

Numbers 11 to 20 (yâzdah, davâzdah...)

Counting by tens to 100

Telling time (sâ'at)

The verb to have (dâram)

Negative to have (nadâram)

Basic word order (SOV)

Infinitives and present stems (-an)

Present indicative (mi-)

Negative present indicative (nemi-)

Compound verbs

Question words (che, kojâ)

How many (chand)

The definite object marker (râ)

Object pronouns (man râ, to râ)

Singular commands (be-)

Formal and plural commands (be- ... -id)

Negative commands (na-)

The present subjunctive (be-)

The negative present subjunctive (na-)

Must (bâyad)

Might (shâyad)

Wanting to do something (khâstan)

Being able to do something (tavânestan)

Forming the past stem

The simple past of to be (budan)

The simple past tense

Negative simple past (na-)

Attached object pronouns on verbs (-am, -at, -ash)

Comparative adjectives (-tar)

Basic conjunctions (va, ammâ, yâ)

Giving reasons (chon)

Adverbs of frequency and degree (hamishe, hargez, kheyli, kam)

Everyday actions (kâr kardan, bâz kardan)

Non-human plural subjects

Indefinite pronouns (kasi, chizi, jâyi)

Negative indefinite pronouns (hich-kas, hich-chiz, hich-jâ)

Reciprocal pronouns (hamdigar, yekdigar)

Reflexive pronouns (khod-)

Reflexive direct objects (khod râ)

Emphatic pronouns (khod)

The quantifier every (har)

The quantifier all (hame)

The quantifier some (ba'zi)

Another and other (-i digar)

Which (kodâm)

How much (cheghadr)

Comparisons of equality (mesl-e)

Superlative adjectives (-tarin)

Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Ordinal numbers (-om)

Pre-nominal ordinal numbers (-omin)

Fractions and percentages

Prepositions of theme (dar mored-e)

Prepositions of time (ghabl az, ba'd az)

Preposition of exclusion (bedun-e)

Resultative conjunctions (banâbarin, pas)

Hortative construction (biyâ, biyâyid)

The present progressive tense (dâram mi-)

The past continuous tense (mi-)

Negative past continuous (ne-mi-)

Past continuous of to have (dâshtam)

The past progressive tense (dâshtam mi-)

The past participle (-e)

Present perfect tense (-e-am, -e-ast)

Negative present perfect (na-)

Question	Answer
hall / venue (grand or formal)	تالارtâlâr
to reserve	رزرو کردنrezerv kardan
Before the guests arrive, I must reserve the hall.	قبل از اینکه مهمان‌ها بیایند، باید تالار را رزرو کنم.ghabl az in-ke mehmân-hâ biyâyand, bâyad tâlâr râ rezerv konam.
wedding	عروسیarusi
cake	کیکkeik
to order	سفارش دادنsefâresh dâdan
Order the cake before you go to the wedding!	قبل از اینکه به عروسی بروید، کیک را سفارش بدهید!qabl az inke be arusi beravid, keyk râ sefâresh bedahid!
engagement	نامزدیnâmzadi
ring	حلقهhalghe
He buys the rings before we start the engagement party.	او قبل از اینکه مهمانی نامزدی را شروع کنیم، حلقه‌ها را می‌خرد.u ghabl az inke mehmâni nâmzadi râ shoru' konim, halghe-hâ râ mikharad.
list	لیستlist
Before I order the rings, I write a list.	قبل از اینکه حلقه‌ها را سفارش بدهم، یک لیست می‌نویسم.ghabl az inke halghe-hâ râ sefâresh bedaham, yek list mi-nevisam.
to cut	بریدنboridan
beauty salon / barbershop	آرایشگاهârâyeshgâh
They must go to the salon before they cut the cake.	آنها باید قبل از اینکه کیک را ببرند، به آرایشگاه بروند.ânhâ bâyad qabl az inke keyk râ beborand, be ârâyeshgâh beravand.
Did you reserve the hall before we wrote the list?	آیا قبل از اینکه لیست را بنویسیم، تالار را رزرو کردی؟âyâ ghabl az inke list râ benevisim, tâlâr râ rezerv kardi?
Before my sister cuts the cake, she goes to the salon.	خواهر من قبل از اینکه کیک را ببرد، به آرایشگاه می‌رود.khâhar-e man qabl az inke keyk râ beborad, be ârâyeshgâh miravad.
I want to find the ring before I go to the engagement party.	می‌خواهم قبل از اینکه به نامزدی بروم، حلقه را پیدا کنم.mikhâham ghabl az inke be nâmzadi beravam, halghe râ peydâ konam.
Before my brother orders the cake, he writes the guest list.	برادر من قبل از اینکه کیک را سفارش بدهد، لیست مهمان‌ها را می‌نویسد.barâdar-e man qabl az in-ke keyk râ sefâresh bedahad, list mehmân-hâ râ mi-nevisad.
Did you reserve the salon before you went to the hall?	آیا قبل از اینکه به تالار بروید، آرایشگاه را رزرو کردید؟âyâ qabl az in-ke be tâlâr beravid, ârâyeshgâh râ rezerv kardid?
We cut the cake before they eat dinner.	ما قبل از اینکه آنها شام بخورند، کیک را می‌بریم.mâ qabl az inke ânhâ shâm bokhorand, keyk râ mibarim.
You must order a ring before you go to the wedding.	قبل از اینکه به عروسی بروی، باید یک حلقه سفارش بدهی.qabl az inke be arusi beravi, bâyad yek halghe sefâresh bedehi.
before (+ subjunctive)	قبل از اینکهghabl az inke
Before we cut the cake, we take a photo.	قبل از اینکه کیک را ببریم، عکس می‌گیریم.qabl az inke keyk râ beborim, aks migirim.
Before we went to the engagement party, we bought the ring.	قبل از اینکه به نامزدی برویم، حلقه را خریدیم.ghabl az inke be nâmzadi beravim, halghe râ kharidim.

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