Vor, bevor or davor? 3 German words for 'before' explained
Coffee Break German
Radio Lingua Network
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thomas explains how German handles the word "before". You'll see when to use "vor", "bevor" and "davor", with clear example sentences that show each one in context. By the end, you'll know exactly which word to reach for and when. Which one trips you up the most?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ayn Wondershomen good |
| 0:03.0 | and welcome by Coffee Break German. |
| 0:06.8 | My name is Thomas and for today's episode |
| 0:09.4 | I have picked one of your all-time favorite topics. |
| 0:14.6 | German grammar. |
| 0:16.9 | Well, actually, today it's a little bit of grammar |
| 0:20.2 | and a little bit of vocabulary because |
| 0:23.1 | we are having a look at three different German words that all mean the exact same word |
| 0:29.4 | in English. |
| 0:30.9 | The challenge here is to know when to choose which word. |
| 0:35.9 | And that all depends on the grammatical construction we use for our sentence. |
| 0:50.2 | So, let's have a look at 4, B4 and Darfur, the three German words for before. |
| 1:00.0 | Let's start with our first German word for before, the preposition 4. |
| 1:07.0 | The rules here are really quite clear. |
| 1:10.0 | You use four before a noun. |
| 1:12.1 | So if you want to say before dinner, you would say for the abendessen. |
| 1:18.3 | Or before my holiday to Austria, for my own own own |
| 1:23.7 | your own world, back Austria. |
| 1:25.9 | Or to give you a full sentence, |
| 1:28.1 | we could say, |
| 1:30.4 | don't leave before the break. |
| 1:34.3 | Go not for the pause. |
... |
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