Using "antes de que"
Is the verb correct after "antes de que"?
Muchos pasajeros saltaron al agua antes de que preparan las barcas salvavidas.
2 Answers
I'm still learning too but my suggestion would be the past perfect tense (not the present as you have) as you're describing one past action before another past action, which the perfect tense is good for, and also the second action should be in the subjunctive mood (not the indicative mood as you have) ie. - 'hubieran estado preparados'
This is because the indicative mood declares things that are true etc but the subjunctive (among other things) refers to things that haven't or hadn't happened at the time referred to. For this reason 'antes (de) que' is followed by the subjunctive mood in either the present (for present or future actions) or past or past perfect tenses (for past actions).
I would also suggest tirarse for jumping into and the impersonal 'se' for the boats being prepared as we're not saying who did the preparing.
So how about this version?
Muchos pasajeros se tiraron al agua antes que se hubieran estado preparados las barcas salvavidas.
But I'm very open to suggestions as I mentioned, I still have lots to learn!
Muchos pasajeros saltaron al agua antes de que prepararan las barcas salvavidas.
