(no subject)

[clownshoes.livejournal.com]

My described three phrases to mean "before":

Перед тем как
Прежде чем
До того как

But it does not tell me when to use each one. In my workbook, we have exercises where it asks for particular ones. Example: "__________ пойти спать, он подошел к бабушке и попросил ч нее прощения." It gives the answer as Перед тем как, but I don't understand why that is right, as opposed to the others.

Comments

[chantfleuri.livejournal.com]

I think first two answers are good, the third one sounds unnatural.

[nitta-inary.livejournal.com]

Можно использовать все три фразы.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your input. However, I would like to remind that the working language of this community is English. It is OK to post or comment in Russian occasionally, but you are expected to provide English translation.

[nitta-inary.livejournal.com]

Ok :) All three phrases is right for this case.

[adri-nwnderland.livejournal.com]

I think there is a rule about there being an infinitive verb after KAK.

I would use the prezhde chem to describe a series of events,
and the do tovo kak only when I wanted to specify something that had to be done BEFORE something else in order for it to work.
I'm not totally sure, but in my experience its like
"I need to clean the house (do tovo kak) my parents come to visit."

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

One difference I see is that the 3rd and 1st(not 100% sure about 1st, though) can't be (or aren't normally) used with an infinitive -- they need a verb in the past or future (or maybe present). So, for your example it needs to be the 2nd.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

До того, как стать учителем, он был таксидермистом
(he used to make stuffed animals before he went into teaching :))
What's wrong with the infinitive here?

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure. The original sentence with до того как пойти seems rather odd. Yours with до того как стать isn't that odd. I don't know how to explain. Can it be a restriction on verbs of motion or some other verb aspect?

[oryx_and_crake]

I don't agree. There is some difference between the 3 phrases but not from the grammatical point of view.

До того, как сделать
Перед тем, как сделать
Прежде чем сделать

are all perfectly OK.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Actually, I see no point in this excercise: all three options are more or less valid, because they describe different things. Grammatically all three are quite OK.
The 1st is: Right before he went to sleep, he approached his gammer and begged her pardon.
The 2nd is, more or less: Not after he went to bed, but before that, he begged his gammer's pardon.
The 3rd is: In the times way before he went to bed, he begged his grandmother for forgiveness.
Thing is, the differences are so subtle (and barely visible even by many native speakers,) that you almost cannot state them as a rule.

[clownshoes.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the response... I'll ask the teacher if there was some other goal in this exercise, because it seemed a little bit pointless from the start to me, too.

[baby-rhino.livejournal.com]

I agree with wolk_off in terms of the meanings.
When I read the task and the options, I chose 1) immediately, though I cannot give any solid reason for that.

[zauberer.livejournal.com]

I would say that the only difference is in style. In modern neutral style you would use the 1st variant. Second variant sounds a little old-fashioned to me. Third variant sounds a bit awkward in this context, but I can't really tell why. May be because we tend to use "до того как" to denote some act preceding the continuing process (like in "до того как стать учителем, он был таксидермистом"; to be a teacher -- is a process), but it is not a strict rule in any case, just a patterns of word compatibility.

[pozhidaev-jr.livejournal.com]

до того как sounds bad only in this case, but in fact all three variants are correct
there are some invisible rules of using these three ways to translate "before": this is a timeline, and you can select nearest position to have most expression from russian:


PAST -- до того как ------------ прежде чем -- перед тем как --> ACTION


you can see now that the two second phrases are near to one another, but the thin invisible difference persists

sorry for my english, be sure, my russian is better )