～前に

About

The noun 前まえ can be used to indicate that an action happens "before" another. To do this, we attach it to a noun using the の particle, or directly to a casual past/present tense verb. We can then connect it to the following clause using に.

E.g. 食たべる前まえに
"before eating"
E.g. 食たべた前まえに
”before (someone) had eaten"
E.g. ランチの前まえに
"before lunch"

Since (verb)前まえ is a specific time expression, it is often followed by に, which marks it as the target time of an action. The temporal 前まえ will always only take the に particle, never the で particle. This helps to distinguish it from the spatial 前まえ which can take either one.

You may also directly attach 前まえ to a time noun to express "X time ago".

E.g. 3時間さんじかん前まえ。
"Three hours ago."

Summary

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  Combine 前まえ with a noun, or a present/past casual verb to express that something happens "before" something else

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  前まえ can be followed by the に time-marking particle, but not で

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  前まえ may directly attach to a time noun to express "X time ago"