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before: adverb

‘at any time before now/then’​

We can use before to mean ‘at any time before now’. In British English, a present perfect tense is normally used.

  • I think I’ve seen this film before.
  • Have you ever been here before?

Before can also mean ‘at any time before then – before the past moment that we are talking about’. In this case a past perfect tense is used.

  • She realised that she had seen him before.

Counting back from a past time: eight years before​

We also use before after a time expression to ‘count back’ from a past moment – to say how much earlier something else had happened. A past perfect tense is normally used.

  • When I went back to the town that I had left eight years before, everything was different. (not … that I had left before eight years …)

To count back from the present, we use ago, not before (see here).

  • I left school four years ago. (not … four years before / before four years)

before, before that and first​

Before is not generally used alone to mean ‘first’ or ‘before that happens’. Instead we use first or before that.

  • I want to get married one day. But before that / first, I want to travel. (not … But before, I want to travel.)
note

For the difference between before and ever, (see here).

For before as a conjunction, (see here).