Breakdown of Перед тем как выйти из дома, лучше ещё раз застегнуть капюшон и проверить шнурки.
дом
the house
и
and
лучше
better
проверить
to check
Questions & Answers about Перед тем как выйти из дома, лучше ещё раз застегнуть капюшон и проверить шнурки.
What does перед тем как mean, and why is it so long instead of just one word for before?
Перед тем как means before when it introduces an action, especially something like before doing X or before X happens.
In this sentence, перед тем как выйти из дома = before leaving the house / before you go out of the house.
It is built from:
- перед = before
- тем = that (in a form required by перед)
- как = how / when
As a whole, it functions like a fixed expression. Russian often uses this kind of longer connector before a clause with a verb.
You can think of it as:
- перед тем как + infinitive/clause = before doing...
There are often shorter alternatives in Russian, but перед тем как is very common and natural.
Why is it тем, not some other form like то?
Because перед requires the instrumental case, and тем is the instrumental singular form of тот.
So:
- nominative: то
- instrumental: тем
In перед тем как, the phrase is fixed, so learners usually just memorize it as a chunk. But grammatically, тем is there because of перед.