пре него што
“пре него што” (pre nego što) — before in Serbian. Phrase, level B1, topic — time, days and hours. Three words with a rigid inner order. After it the future is said in the present tense, as after ako and kad: pre nego sto krenemo. In speech shortened to pre nego krenemo. In a live sentence: “Јави ми пре него што кренеш” — Let me know before you leave. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Serbian | пре него што |
| Read in Latin letters | pre nego što |
| Translation | before |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- пре него штоpre nego štobefore
Why it looks that way
Three words with a rigid inner order. After it the future is said in the present tense, as after ako and kad: pre nego sto krenemo. In speech shortened to pre nego krenemo.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Јави ми пре него што кренешJavi mi pre nego što krenešLet me know before you leave
Nearby words: time, days and hours
Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.
- сатsathourAlso the watch on your wrist: dva sata — "two hours" and "two o'clock" alike; rucni sat is a wristwatch. One word, three time jobs.
- данdandayThe plural splits: dani in free use, but after numbers dana — pet dana, "five days". Danas is literally "of this day".
- данасdanastodayDan ("day") plus the old ending -as: "in this day". The same building block hides in other time words you will meet.
- сутраsutratomorrowRelated to jutro, "morning", by origin, but it means only "tomorrow" — jutro stays morning.
- јучеjučeyesterdayThere is also jucer — the same word, a touch more bookish. The day before yesterday is prekjuče.
- вечеvečeeveningNeuter, declining like vreme: uveče, do večeri. Do not confuse with vec — "already" — a stress mark apart.
- ноћnoćnightFeminine on a consonant: u noći, preko noći — "overnight". Noćas means "tonight, in the night just passed".
- времеvremeweatherOne word for weather and for time: kakvo je vreme? asks about the sky; nemam vremena about the clock.
- у колико сати?u koliko sati?at what time?Literally "at how many hours". Sati is the plural of sat.
- већ је касноveć je kasnoit is already lateVec is "already". Do not cross it with vece (the evening) — one letter, one vowel length, two words.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “before” in Serbian?
Three words with a rigid inner order. After it the future is said in the present tense, as after ako and kad: pre nego sto krenemo. In speech shortened to pre nego krenemo.
- How do you say “night” in Serbian?
Feminine on a consonant: u noći, preko noći — "overnight". Noćas means "tonight, in the night just passed".
- How do you say “today” in Serbian?
Dan ("day") plus the old ending -as: "in this day". The same building block hides in other time words you will meet.
- How do you say “it is already late” in Serbian?
Vec is "already". Do not cross it with vece (the evening) — one letter, one vowel length, two words.
- How do you say “evening” in Serbian?
Neuter, declining like vreme: uveče, do večeri. Do not confuse with vec — "already" — a stress mark apart.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “before” in Serbian?
«пре него што», read “pre nego što”. In a live sentence: “Јави ми пре него што кренеш” — Let me know before you leave. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1, from the set “time, days and hours”; written with the characters п, р, е, н, е, г, о, ш, т, о.
How is “пре него што” written in Latin letters?
pre nego što. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Three words with a rigid inner order. After it the future is said in the present tense, as after ako and kad: pre nego sto krenemo. In speech shortened to pre nego krenemo. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.