Imperfect Subjunctive Q

Question

Hola todos!

I have searched all the the internet in Spanish and English without much luck and even asked a Spanish friend, who didn´t know the answer. In the following sentences why is the imperfect subjunctive used?

Antes de que te conociera..

Antes de que te hablara ..

Antes de que te viera..

I don´t really understand as we are talking about something factual, that happened. Or is it because we are expressing something that happened before something factual ocurred? Therefore now it would be .. ( I am not sure how to explain this)..

Muchisímas gracias!

Do us a favour mate. Just update your profile with your language levels and we will be better able to give you an answer based on your level - billygoat, Jul 2, 2017

:) - ian-hill, Jul 2, 2017

Answer 1

Antes de que is followed by the subjunctive because it indicates a pending, unrealized, hypothetical action or state.

Antes de que te hablara, estaba descontento. From the perspective of the current moment, yes, it's a fact that I spoke with you. But from the perspective of the main clause of the sentence, estaba descontento, my speaking with you was not a done deal. Hence, the subjunctive.

Okay, this makes sense. Thank you so much! - Tyler8927, Jul 2, 2017

Perfectly put. :) - bosquederoble, Jul 2, 2017

Great answer, Jt:) - FELIZ77, Jul 2, 2017

nice, good job :) - 006595c6, Jul 2, 2017