Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Siempre apagamos la televisión antes de que los niños se duerman. - We always turn off the TV before the children fall asleep.

Because in Spanish, people often use the reflexive verb dormirse (to fall asleep) instead of the non‑reflexive dormir (to sleep) when talking about the action of going to sleep.

dormir = to sleep (a state)
- Los niños duermen. = The children sleep / are sleeping.
dormirse = to fall asleep (the moment/process of starting to sleep)
- Los niños se duermen. = The children fall asleep / go to sleep.

In this sentence, the idea is “before the children fall asleep,” so se duerman (from dormirse) is more natural than just duerman.

Why is it se duerman (subjunctive) and not se duermen (present indicative)?

Because of the expression antes de que.

In Spanish, antes de que normally triggers the subjunctive when it introduces an action that:

hasn’t happened yet, and
is different from the subject of the main verb.

Here:

Main clause: Siempre apagamos la televisión (“We always turn off the TV”)
Subordinate clause: antes de que los niños se duerman (“before the children fall asleep”)

Since the children falling asleep is:

a future / not yet realized action (from the point of view of turning the TV off), and
has a different subject (nosotros vs. los niños),

Spanish uses the present subjunctive: (que) los niños se duerman, not se duermen.

Why does antes de que take the subjunctive, but antes de with an infinitive does not?

You use:

antes de que + subjunctive when there is a new subject:
- Apagamos la televisión antes de que los niños se duerman.
  (We / they → different subjects)
antes de + infinitive when the subject is the same for both actions:
- Apagamos la televisión antes de dormir.
  “We turn off the TV before sleeping.”
  (Same subject: we turn off the TV, we sleep)

So the original sentence must use antes de que + subjunctive because the people who turn off the TV are not the same people who fall asleep (the kids).

Could I say antes que los niños se duerman without de?

In standard modern Spanish, with this meaning of “before (in time)”, you normally say:

antes de que
- verb

Just antes que is:

more old‑fashioned, literary, or regional, and
in many contexts, not considered standard in Latin American Spanish for temporal “before.”

So the most natural and correct version for Latin American Spanish is:

Siempre apagamos la televisión antes de que los niños se duerman.

Could I say Siempre apagamos la tele instead of la televisión?

Yes.

la televisión is a bit more formal or neutral.
la tele is very common, colloquial, and widely understood in Latin America (although in some countries la tele may be slightly less common than in Spain, it’s still generally understood).

Another option is el televisor (the physical TV set), but in daily speech people often just say la tele or la televisión for both the device and what’s on it.

So all of these are possible, depending on register:

Siempre apagamos la televisión... (neutral)
Siempre apagamos la tele... (colloquial)
Siempre apagamos el televisor... (focus on the device; a bit more formal/specific)

Why is it apagamos (present tense) and not some future form?

Spanish often uses the present indicative to describe habitual actions, even if they are in general time (not right now):

Siempre apagamos la televisión... = “We always turn off the TV...”

In English, you also use the simple present for habits, so this lines up well:

Spanish: Siempre apagamos la televisión.
English: “We always turn off the TV.”

A future form like apagaremos would mean a specific future event (“we will turn off”), not a general habit.

Can I change the word order and say: Antes de que los niños se duerman, siempre apagamos la televisión?

Yes.

Both of these are correct and natural:

Siempre apagamos la televisión antes de que los niños se duerman.
Antes de que los niños se duerman, siempre apagamos la televisión.

Changing the order mostly affects emphasis:

Original order emphasizes the habit (“we always turn it off before...”).
The second order slightly emphasizes the time condition (“before the kids fall asleep, what we do is always turn the TV off”).

Why does Spanish say los niños with los, while English just says “children”?

Spanish normally uses the definite article (like el, la, los, las) with general groups of people when it’s clear who we’re talking about.

Here, los niños probably means “our kids / the kids in this household”, understood from context. Spanish prefers:

los niños = the children (implied: those specific children we both know about)

In English, we would usually drop the article and just say:

“before the children fall asleep” or “before the kids go to sleep”

In Spanish, saying just niños without los would sound incomplete here.

What exactly is the role of se in se duerman?

Se here is the reflexive pronoun used with dormirse:

Base verb: dormir = to sleep
Reflexive form: dormirse = to fall asleep, to go to sleep

Conjugation in the present subjunctive (3rd person plural):

ellos/ellas se duerman

So:

duerman = (that) they sleep
se duerman = (that) they fall asleep

In this context, you’re not just talking about the state of sleeping, but the action of entering sleep, so se is needed.

Could I say antes de que los niños se van a dormir instead of se duerman?

For natural Spanish, you should not say se van a dormir after antes de que in this type of sentence.

Better options:

...antes de que los niños se duerman. ✅
...antes de que los niños vayan a dormir. ✅ (also subjunctive, with ir a)

Se van a dormir is present indicative (or periphrastic future), and antes de que in this temporal sense normally requires subjunctive, not indicative.

So se duerman (subjunctive) is the best, simplest choice here.

Why isn’t it apaguemos (subjunctive) instead of apagamos?

The main verb apagamos is in a normal statement about what “we” do habitually. There is no trigger for the subjunctive there:

Siempre apagamos la televisión... = plain fact / habit → indicative

The subjunctive is used in the subordinate clause introduced by antes de que, which expresses a future, not-yet-realized event related to that main fact:

...antes de que los niños se duerman. → subjunctive

So only the verb in the “antes de que” clause is subjunctive, not the main verb.

Is there any difference between Latin American Spanish and Spain Spanish in this sentence?

Structurally and grammatically, the sentence is fine and natural in both varieties:

Siempre apagamos la televisión antes de que los niños se duerman.

Possible differences:

Vocabulary preference:
- Spain might more often say la tele in everyday speech.
- Latin America also uses la tele, but la televisión is extremely common and neutral.
Pronunciation and accent vary by country, but the grammar and word choice here are fully acceptable across the Spanish‑speaking world.