Breakdown of Antes de eu sair, vou lavar as mãos de novo.
eu
I
ir
to go (future auxiliary)
sair
to leave
antes de
before
Questions & Answers about Antes de eu sair, vou lavar as mãos de novo.
Why is sair in the infinitive instead of a conjugated form like saio?
After antes de, Portuguese very often uses the infinitive: antes de sair, antes de comer, antes de dormir.
In this sentence, the infinitive has an explicit subject, so you get antes de eu sair. This is a case of the personal infinitive, which is something Portuguese has and English does not really have in the same way.
So:
- antes de sair = before leaving / before I leave
- antes de eu sair = before I leave
Both are possible, but the second one spells out who is doing the leaving.
Why is there an eu before the infinitive sair?
Because Portuguese can use an infinitive with its own subject. That is called the personal infinitive.
Here, eu is the subject of sair:
- eu sair = I leave / for me to leave
This is very common after prepositions such as de, para, sem, and others:
- para eu fazer = for me to do
- sem eu ver = without me seeing
- antes de eu sair = before I leave
Why is it eu, not mim, after de?