Breakdown of Вся команда волновалась, до того как начали репетировать.
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone
команда
team
начать
to begin (perfective)
волноваться
to worry
до того как
before
репетировать
to rehearse
Questions & Answers about Вся команда волновалась, до того как начали репетировать.
Why do we use до того как here instead of just до?
До is a preposition used directly before nouns, like in до обеда (before lunch). Because the second half of this sentence is a full clause with its own verb (начали), we must use the conjunction phrase до того как. You can think of it literally as "up to that [moment] how".
Why does the sentence switch from singular волновалась to plural начали?
Команда (team) is a singular feminine noun, so its verb must be the feminine singular волновалась. In the second clause, the subject is dropped, but the verb switches to the plural начали (they started) to refer to the individual team members. This is very similar to English, where we often say "The team was nervous before they started."
Why is репетировать in the imperfective aspect here?
In Russian, "phase verbs" that mean to begin, to continue, or to finish (like начать) always require the following verb to be in the imperfective infinitive. Even if the rehearsal was a single event, the act of starting it triggers the imperfective репетировать.
Can the comma be placed in the middle of до того как?
Yes, you will sometimes see the comma placed after того instead (до того, как). Putting it before до treats the phrase as one single "before" block. Putting it after того puts special emphasis on the timing: "The team was nervous up until that moment, when..." Both styles are grammatically correct.
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