Antes de vs Antes de que + subjunctive

[LearningSpanish]

I'm still having a bit of trouble knowing when to choose antes de over antes de que.

In some cases it's fairly straightforward:

antes de + a noun

antes del desayuno - before breakfast

antes de que + a conjugated verb

Vamos al parque antes de que desayunemos - Let's go to the park before we have breakfast.

and I know that in Spanish an infinitive can also act as a noun (like we use a gerund)

Recomiendan comer frutas antes de desayunar. =
It's recommended to have fruit before having breakfast.

but the trouble I have is in knowing whether the sentence calls for a noun or a conjugated verb after 'antes de':



Eg: My Mum used to read me a story before I went to bed.

The 'went to bed bit' certainly sounds like the verb should be conjugated, so is it:

Mi mamá me solía leer un cuento antes de que me acostara.

or because we're just talking generally and not of any specific time when I went to bed is it the infinitive??

Mi mamá me solía leer un cuento antes de acostarme. (this one for some reason sounds more natural but the more I think about it the more confused I get jeje)

Or do they both work but the first one means 'before she put me to bed' (no change of subject so no need for the subjunctive) and the second one means 'before I put myself to bed' (change of subject hence the subjunctive).

And what about if it was 'going to sleep' instead of 'going to bed'?

In that cas,e if the correct option was the infinitive - Mi mamá solía leer me un cuento antes de dormir. How do we know who's going to sleep me or her?

ayayay - any help/explanations greatly appreciated

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It may depend on whether the subject in the sentence is the same or if it changes.
You can check post #6 in this thread (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=13879) and post #12 in this other one (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=7940&page=2) for explanations on these cases. :)

Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de acostarme. :approx: Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de que me acostara.


For your last example, only context can tell who's going to sleep if you use a plain infinitive:
· Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de dormir. (To me, this would be used to imply she read to me before we both went to sleep.)

But if you use a pronominal, the subject is perfectly clear:
Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de dormirse. :ne: Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de dormirme. :)

[LearningSpanish]

· Mi mamá me leía un cuento antes de dormir. (To me, this would be used to imply she read to me before we both went to sleep.)


That's interesting, I was thinking that this one would sound like she read to me before 'she' went to sleep (just going on the 'no change of subject' usually takes the infinitive idea, so that's good to know that it could also sound like it was before 'both' went to sleep, thanks

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Well, at night everyone is supposed to go to sleep, despite the fact that the mother is supposed to go to sleep after her child. Making a clear statement on who goes to sleep stresses who stays awake after the other one has already fallen asleep, even if you already know they both sleep at night. :D

[LearningSpanish]

So basically you can choose either option, the infinitive version if you think the hearer will figure out who you're talking about and the subjunctive version if you need to make clear who you're talking about. And the subjunctive just happens to be the conjugated verb of choice here because it's following 'antes de'.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

For that case, yes, as it's clearly understood without any further explanations. Normally, the rule for same subject + infinitive and different subject + subjunctive needs to be respected. :)

[LearningSpanish]

Thank you :)