# before ___ ago



## airelibre

How do you say "before six months ago"? Do you double up the לפני?

לפני לפני שישה חודשים


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## Drink

Maybe לפני יותר משישה חודשים, with extra emphasis on יותר? I'll also point out that I don't think "before six months ago" is very good English anyway.


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## airelibre

Perhaps, but isn't that "more than six months ago", which is slightly different? 

Before six months ago I had never seen a lion.
לפני לפני שישה חודשים בחיים לא ראיתי אריה
ככה?


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## Drink

airelibre said:


> Perhaps, but isn't that "more than six months ago", which is slightly different?
> 
> Before six months ago I had never seen a lion.
> לפני לפני שישה חודשים בחיים לא ראיתי אריה
> ככה?



In that context, maybe עד לפני?


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## amikama

airelibre said:


> Before six months ago I had never seen a lion.
> לפני לפני שישה חודשים בחיים לא ראיתי אריה
> ככה?


.לא, לא ככה
לפני לפני looks like a typo, as if you wrote the the same word twice by mistake... 



Drink said:


> In that context, maybe עד לפני?


כן, ככה:
עד לפני שישה חודשים בחיים לא ראיתי אריה!


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## origumi

What about בעדה בעדה שישה חודשים?


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## Drink

origumi said:


> What about בעדה בעדה שישה חודשים?



I'm confused, what does בעדה mean here?


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## origumi

Oh that was a joke. It's Arabic بعد (= beyond) that entered the Hebrew lexicon thanks to Sayyed Nasrallah of the Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel Lebanon war. As in ba3ada ba3ada Haifa = far beyond Haifa.


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## Drink

origumi said:


> Oh that was a joke. It's Arabic بعد (= beyond) that entered the Hebrew lexicon thanks to Sayyed Nasrallah of the Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel Lebanon war. As in ba3ada ba3ada Haifa = far beyond Haifa.



Oh. I was thinking that it couldn't be Arabic بعد, because I only knew that it meant "after", which is quite the opposite of "before". Anyway, to really learn Hebrew, you have to get these kinds of references, so thanks!


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## origumi

Actually بعد means _after_, _next_. I translated as _beyond _to avoid the need of further explanation but you got me.

If you stand on point "now" on the time axis, looking on "six months ago", then you see "before six months ago" *after* (or next to) "six months ago".
A matter of viewpoint.


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## Drink

One confusing thing is the root ק-ד-ם, in both Hebrew and Arabic.

On one hand you have קדם (ancient times), קודם (previous), and قديم (ancient).

On the other hand you have קדימה (forward), לקדם (to advance), and قادم (next).

Not to mention that קודם and قادم are grammatically equivalent forms.


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## hadronic

You have the same ambiguity in French with "avant" (before in the past) vs "en avant" (in front of),  "avancer", "avancement" (התקדמות). 

Same in English with "before"  vs "forth(coming)", "foreground".


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