"Before I will die"- possible?

Question

Hi!In my country is one stupid emo girl ;D She has a tatoo "before I'll die". We're wondering if this sentence is grammaticly correct. Is it?I think that we usually say "before I die,  I'll do sth" or "before I will have been dead/ I will have died" (is it correct?) or whatever.What do you think about it?Einmalige Narzisse

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

In my country is one stupid emo girl ;D She has a tatoo "before I'll die".
We're wondering if this sentence is grammaticly correct. Is it?
I think that we usually say "before I die, I'll do sth" or "before I will have been dead/ I will have died" (is it correct?) or whatever.

What do you think about it?

What's an emo girl?

Has she ever spoken of what she means by this phrase? In most cases, it would be 'Before I die'. Even then, if I saw such a tattoo, I'd wonder 'Before I die, .... what?'

I guess the moral is that, if you want to get a tattoo, you should check first with someone who has a good knowledge of grammar.

Clive

I Love Chocolate · Answer

The only one I'm comfortable with is 'before I die' as in:

Before I die, I'd like to see the Eiffel Tower.

Or

I want to create a free, educational program for young people from impoverished areas before I die.

Einmalige Narizsse · Answer

Ops. Sure (or surely?) My mistake :]

An emo girl (I thought, you know "emo", cause it's pretty popular in UK) but an emo is person... well, look at this video

Of course, I don't wanna insult anyone, but we don't like this singer and she's emo.

I have no idea what she means by this phrase, her new CD is "before I'll die", probably she thought about what she will do, before she die :]

Clive, haha I think, that she thinks, she's very clever, smart and beautiful (well, it's pretty interesting, cause she goes to sth like "American school"

)

Thanks

tattoo, tattoo, tattoo ;D

Anonymous · Answer

you die only one time it has to be preset simple, thats it.

Anonymous · Answer

Should be "... before she dies," honey. It's easy to see someone else's mistakes, ain't it?
Tola is scared for life, because, while the tatoo can be removed, the list of her albums is inchangable...

Einmalige Narizsse · Answer

I made mistake, because I've lost "s", not because I don't know this tense :]
It's not the same.
And I'm not honey. Not for you.

btw. should be "tattoo" not "tatoo".
Let me adduce "It's easy to see someone else's mistakes, ain't it?" :-)

Anonymous · Answer

why not "before she will die" ?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

why not "before she will die" ?

'Before', and other time words like 'after, until, when, as soon as', are not usually followed by future tense.

eg I'll call you before I cook dinner.

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

There are very few situations when a subordinating conjunction of time is used with the future tense.

The following highly unusual examples are modifications of material found on the internet.
Note that before is not, strictly speaking, a temporal conjunction here, but a logical one, having to do with purpose or preference, and having to do with consenting or allowing an event to occur.

-- You're all right. The bullet only grazed your head.
-- (laughing) They'll have to chop my head off before I'll die!
before I'll die: before I 'consent' to dying, before I 'allow' myself to die, if their purpose is to kill me.
_______________

-- They are coming here to kill us. We have to run away.
-- We have a right to be here. As a matter of principle, I'll die before I'll run.
-- Do as you like. I'll run before I'll die.

I'll die before I'll run: I will allow them to kill me in preference to consenting to giving up my principles. I prefer to die rather than to run.
I'll run before I'll die: I will give up my principles and save my life in preference to dying. I prefer to run rather than to die.
_______________

Absent these less usual contexts, will is not used with before, after, when, etc.

So the question is whether the whole thought, of which the words of the tattoo are only an extract, expresses the idea of preference or consent or allowing a situation. If so, perhaps if I'll die is actually not a 'mistake of grammar'. Only a knowledge of the whole sentence from which this fragment comes can answer the question.

CJ

Hoa Thai · Answer

What's a beautiful interpretation!

I now understand what the late Trinh Cong Son, who was regarded as Vietnamese Bob Dylan by the world of music, shared in one of his songs, “…, before I will die for my mother land.”

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

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