This is the 28th most frequent Croatian word.
prije
"Prije" in Croatian means "before" or "earlier."
Here, 'prije' operates as a preposition, indicating the temporal order between two occurrences, specifying that one precedes the other.
Doručak je prije večere.
Breakfast is before dinner.
In this sentence, 'prije' is used as an adverb meaning 'before,' functioning as a subordinating conjunction to indicate a temporal relation between two events or actions.
Prije nego što smo krenuli na put, provjerili smo sve dokumente.
Before we started the journey, we checked all the documents.
In this case, 'prije' is used as an adverb to mean 'before,' but it acts independently to describe a prior point in time in relation to the speech moment.