The word antes (before) has quite some meanings, and is a very important word in the Spanish language. Now, I’m not going to go in dept with the word antes today, but I do want to discuss an expression that’s common in Spanish: lo antes posible.
Lo antes posible simply means “as soon as possible”, but for many anglophones the frase itself doesn’t make any sense.
To break it down:
Lo is an undefined article, best translated to “the “.
Antes means “before”.
Posible means “possible”.
Still not understanding it fully? Don’t worry, it’s always lo antes posible, so just learn it as a chunk.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related Posts:
Spanish Expression of the Day: hasta ahora
Spanish Expression of the Day: buena gente
Spanish Expression of the Day: poner los cuernos
Spanish Expression of the Day: tomar el pelo
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¡qué fuerte!
Loading ...
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Well your translation of Antes there is wrong. Even if the normal use of “antes” is “before”, you need to be “before something”.
The meaning in that sentence is “soon” or “early”, that’s why the translation is “as soon as possible”. You can find similar expressions like “cuanto antes mejor” (the earlier, the better; As soon as possible); Te vi antes conduciendo (I saw you driving earlier)
For further reference: Antes in WordReference
Sorry? Wrong? Then you can tell me why it’d be wrong. The link you provide says exactly the same. Yes, it’s before something as it’s meant to be used with time, but native speakers of English can guess that from context when they see the sentences…
Yeah, it’s wrong because “antes” in that particular sentence is not “before” but “soon”. The main meaning is “before”, so you are right, yeah… but not here… so the “literal” translation would be “the soon possible” that sounds pretty better
anyways, as you say, you must learn the expression as a chunk because if you try to find out what it’s the meaning you are gonna come crazy. It is a nonsense if you try to understand it word by word.
Don’t care too much about this… I just wanted to tell you about the second meaning of “antes”. Indeed, both of them are close in meaning, that’s because we use the same word in Spanish, both make reference to order, either in time or place
Thanks for clearing it up. Still, I was only breaking it down to show you can’t break down expressions, that you have to learn it as a whole.