Breakdown of Tôi sẽ sửa cửa sổ trước khi trời mưa.
tôi
I
sẽ
will
trời
the sky
mưa
to rain
cửa sổ
the window
sửa
to fix
trước khi
before
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Questions & Answers about Tôi sẽ sửa cửa sổ trước khi trời mưa.
What’s the function of sẽ in this sentence?
sẽ is the future‐tense marker in Vietnamese. Because verbs don’t change form for past, present, or future, you place sẽ before a verb to show that the action will happen later (i.e., “I will fix…”).
Why is there no classifier like cái before cửa sổ?
In Vietnamese, if the noun is definite or clear from context, you can omit the classifier. Here you know which window is meant (your window), so cửa sổ works fine. If you wanted to be extra explicit or sound more colloquial, you could say sửa cái cửa sổ.
How does trước khi work grammatically?
trước khi is a subordinating conjunction meaning “before.” It must be followed by a full clause (subject + verb), as in trước khi trời mưa (“before it rains”).
Why do we say trời mưa instead of just mưa?
Both are possible. mưa alone is the intransitive verb “rain.” Many speakers add trời (“sky”) to form a full clause trời mưa (“the sky rains”), which sounds more natural for “it’s going to rain.”
Can I move trước khi trời mưa to the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. You can say:
Trước khi trời mưa, tôi sẽ sửa cửa sổ.
When the time clause leads, native usage calls for a comma after it, but the meaning stays the same.
Is a comma required between the main clause and trước khi clause?
If the time clause comes first, use a comma:
Trước khi trời mưa, tôi sẽ sửa cửa sổ.
If it comes after the main clause, the comma is optional in informal writing (but allowed):
Tôi sẽ sửa cửa sổ trước khi trời mưa.
Can I drop sẽ and still convey future meaning?
In casual speech you might hear Tôi sửa cửa sổ trước khi trời mưa, and people will understand it as a plan. But omitting sẽ makes the time reference less explicit. sẽ clearly flags the future.
What does sửa mean, and is there a more formal synonym?
sửa means “to repair” or “to fix” (in a general sense). A more formal or technical term is sửa chữa, often used for professional repair services.
What’s the basic word order of this sentence?
It’s Subject + Tense marker + Verb + Object + Time clause, i.e.:
Tôi (S) + sẽ (future marker) + sửa (V) + cửa sổ (O) + trước khi trời mưa (time clause).