Dictionary › 之前

之前

zhī qián

HSK 3.0 level 4 2-character word

之前 (zhī qián) means "before; prior to; ago". It is an HSK 3.0 level 4 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 之前 means

1. before
2. prior to
3. ago
4. previously
5. beforehand

The characters in 之前

• 之zhī(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的; him; her
• 前qiánfront; forward; ahead

Example sentences

• 之前你在哪里？
  Where were you?
• 上床之前关灯。
  Turn off the light before you go to bed.
• 我之前在撒谎。
  I was lying earlier.
• 进来之前请敲门。
  Please knock before you come in.
• 六点之前要回家。
  You should come home before six.
• 肯之前去过英国。
  Ken has been to England before.

Words containing 之前

• 在此之前zài cǐ zhī qiánbefore that; beforehand; previously
• 在这之前zài zhè zhī qiánbefore then; up until that point

Sounds the same

Read zhī qián, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 支前to support the front (military)

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read zhī qián correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.