Time Clauses and Time Expressions

Time expressions

AFTER – I made coffee after Reza arrived. / After Reza arrived, I made coffee.
I’ll have a shower after you.
What are you doing after we finish recording?

More uses of after:
Expressions
day after day – día tras día. What are the same mistakes you keep correcting in your classes day after day.
one after the other – uno tras otro. I can’t stop eating chocolates. Once I start, I eat them one after the other.
one excuse after another – excusas y más excusas. When I ask my students for hand in their writing homework I get a load odd excuses, one after the other.
after you! – ¡pase usted!, ¡usted primero!

Behind
close the door after you – cierra la puerta al salir or cuando salgas
I’m tired of cleaning up after you – Estoy cansado de ir detrás de ti limpiándolo todo

Looking for
She’s after a husband – Va en pos de un marido
They’re all after the same thing – Todos van a por lo mismo
What is he after? – ¿Qué pretende?
I see what you’re after – Ya caigo, ya comprendo lo que quieres decir; (hostile) ya te he calado

In view of – después de
After all I’ve done for you – Después de / Con todo lo que he hecho por ti
He can’t go back after what he’s done – Después de lo que ha hecho no puede volver

BEFORE – we had lunch before we started recording. We taught classes before we had lunch.

Different uses of before

anteriormente
Have you been here before? – ¿Habías estado aquí anteriormente?

rather than
I would die before I would criticize her. – Moriría antes de criticarla.

in front of
He stood before the crowd and raised his arms. – Él se paró ante la multitud y levantó los brazos.
I stood before my students and made a fool of myself.

por delante
She has her whole career before her. – Ella tiene toda una carrera por delante

antes que
Personally, I’d eat pizza before caviar or truffles. – Personalmente, prefiero comer pizza antes que caviar o trufas.
I’d prefer to eat chocolate before food.

ante
They performed an open-air concert before a huge audience. – Dieron un concierto al aire libre ante un numeroso público.

WHEN (cuando) – I was making coffee when Reza arrived.

WHILE (mientras) – I was making coffee while Reza was testing the microphone. (during the time that)

While/When Reza was living in Salamanca, he met Patricia.

BY THE TIME – What do you hope to have done by the time you’ve retired? (future perfect)
By the time we get to the station the train will have gone!

AS SOON AS – (tan pronto como) I will pay for your ticket as soon as you make the reservation. – Tan pronto como hagan la reserva pagaré la factura.
As soon as this podcast is published it goes to iTunes and all the other podcast applications.

ASAP (AS SOON AS POSSIBLE) Lo antes posible. We must record some more podcasts as soon as possible!
I’ll let you know as soon as possible.

IN THE END (al fin y al cabo, al final) We had some technical problems with the podcast today, but we recorded all of it in the end.

AT THE END (al final – at the final stages of something, at the point when something finishes) What happened at the end of the film?
The toilet is at the end of the hall.

AT LAST (al fin, por fin) – we managed to meet this. Week, at last. Finally!

DURING (durante) How many times have I hit the pause button during this podcast?

I’ve been living in Valencia FOR 15 years.

during the war
during my childhood
during the podcast
during the lesson
during the revolution etc.

for a year
for a few minutes
for a while
for a couple of weeks
for ages etc.

EVER (alguna vez) / NEVER (nunca) Have you ever been to Florence?
Craig’s never been to Florence.

“Reza has never eaten crocodile meat” or “Reza hasn’t ever eaten crocodile meat.”

*Dispones de más PODCAST en inglés publicados en los cuadernos anteriores
a los que puedes acceder directamente así como al índice de su contenido.