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When vs Before - What's the difference?

when | before |

As adverbs the difference between when and before

is that when is Used to introduce questions about time while before is at an earlier time.

As conjunctions the difference between when and before

is that when is at what time while before is in advance of the time when.

As a pronoun when

is what time; which time.

As a noun when

is the time.

As an interjection when

is that's enough, a command to stop adding something, especially an ingredient of food or drink.

As a preposition before is

earlier than (in time).

when

English

(wikipedia when)

Adverb

(-)
  • (interrogative) (Used to introduce questions about time).
  • When will they arrive ?
  • (Used to introduce indirect questions about time).
  • Do you know when they arrived?
    Do you know when they will arrive?
    Do you know when they arrive?
  • At an earlier and less prosperous time.
  • He's mister high and mighty now, but I remember him when .

    Conjunction

    (missing senses) (English Conjunctions)
  • At what time.
  • :
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when , of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • At such time as.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • As soon as.
  • :
  • At a time in the past.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , passage=The Baggies had offered little threat until the 28th minute, but when their first chance came it was a clear one.}}

    Derived terms

    * whenwe

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • (interrogative) What time; which time
  • Since when do I need your permission?

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The time.
  • A good article will cover the who, the what, the when , the where, the why and the how .

    See also

    * since when

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • That's enough,
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Derived terms

    * whenever

    Statistics

    *

    before

    English

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Earlier than (in time).
  • * (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 11, author=Rory Houston, work=RTE Sport
  • , title= Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland , passage=Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.}}
  • In front of in space.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.
  • *
  • He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
  • Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
  • * (John Ayliffe) (1676-1732)
  • If a suit be begun before an archdeacon
  • In store for, in the future of (someone).
  • * (Thomas Carlyle) (1795-1881)
  • The golden ageis before us.
  • In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
  • At a higher or greater position in a ranking.
  • * (Bible), (w) i. 15
  • He that cometh after me is preferred before me.
  • * (Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784)
  • The eldest son is before the younger in succession.

    Synonyms

    * (earlier than in time) by, no later than * (in front of in space) ahead of, in front of * (in front of according to an ordering system) ahead of

    Antonyms

    * (earlier than in time) after, later than * (in front of in space) behind * (in front of according to an ordering system) after

    Adverb

    (-)
  • At an earlier time.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}
  • In advance.
  • At the front end.
  • * 1896 , (Hilaire Belloc), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts , :
  • When people call this beast to mind,
    They marvel more and more
    At such a (little) tail behind,
    So LARGE a trunk before .

    Synonyms

    * (at an earlier time) previously * (in advance) ahead * (at the front end) in front

    Antonyms

    * (at an earlier time) after * (at the front end) behind

    Derived terms

    * beforehand * beforetime

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • in advance of the time when
  • (informal) rather or sooner than
  • Synonyms

    * (rather than) lest

    References

    * Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8