Conjunctions: time

When, after, before, until, since, while, once, as and as soon as are subordinating conjunctions which can be used to connect an action or an event to a point in time.

action/event

conjunction

time

She was in a bad car accident

when

she was young.

We can’t play loud music

after

everyone has gone to bed.

Brush your teeth

before

you go to bed!

I’ll wait with you

until

the bus comes.

I’ve been very busy

since

I started my new job.

No one left the cinema

while

the movie was on.

I’ll call you

once

I arrive.

We always have an ice cream

as soon as

we get to the beach.

I bumped into her

as

I came out of the bank.

Many of these time conjunctions can be followed by -ing or -ed forms instead of subject + verb.

Warning:

We don’t use will after conjunctions referring to future time:

When people walk into the room, they will feel something special.

Not: When people will walk into the room…

I will call you as soon as I get to the office.

Not: … as soon as I will get to the office.

When, once, as soon as

We can use when, once, as and as soon as to talk about a specific point in time when something happened or will happen:

When we were in Greece, we went to as many islands as possible.

They always close their curtains once they get home in the evening.

As soon as we hear any news, we’ll call you.

Before, after and until

We use before and after to talk about the order of events in the past or future. With before and after, either the main clause or the subordinate clause can come first:

[event 1]She’ll pick you up before [event 2]she comes here.

After [event 1]she comes here, [event 2]she’ll pick you up.

Until as a time conjunction means up to a time in the past or future. In the case of until, the main clause usually comes first:

I’m going to wait until the January sales start to buy a new jacket.

Until he mentioned his name was Doug, I thought he was called Damien! (less common order)

We spell until with one l. (Not: untill)

While

We use while to show that actions or events happen at the same time in the past, present or future:

Can you wait in the car while I run into the shop?

They were talking while the teacher was explaining the activity.

Warning:

We don’t use during instead of while. During is a preposition, not a conjunction, and it must be followed by a noun or a pronoun:

I like to have the radio on while I study.

Not: I like to have the radio on during I study.

See also:

• As

• Since

• While and whilst

• Before

• Once

• Until

• Punctuation