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Antes de salir, ella visita a su abuela.

Antes de salir, ella visita a su abuela.
Before going out, she visits her grandmother.
From Lesson 107:Before and after (antes de, después de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Antes de salir, ella visita a su abuela.

English says 'Before going out', so why does Spanish use the infinitive salir instead of the -ing form saliendo?
In Spanish, when a verb comes directly after a preposition like de (as in antes de), it must always be in its dictionary or infinitive form (salir). You never use the -ing form (the gerund) after a preposition in Spanish.
Could I just say Antes salir without the de?
No, to say 'before doing something', the phrase is always antes de followed by an infinitive verb. Antes on its own just means 'before' or 'earlier' as an adverb, like in lo hice antes (I did it earlier).
Why is there an a between visita and su abuela?
This is called the 'personal a'. In Spanish, whenever the direct object of a verb is a specific person, you must put an a right before it. Since her grandmother (su abuela) is a person, we need the personal a.
Is the word ella absolutely necessary here?
No, you could just say Antes de salir, visita a su abuela. The verb visita already tells us the subject is he, she, or you (formal). The word ella is just used here to make it completely clear who we are talking about, or to add a little emphasis.

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