Zdravím

Po delší době mám otázku:

• I will be home before you will.

Z gramatického hlediska, není “will”, špatně? Tuto větu jsem slyšel v seriálu Better Call Saul. Dávno již neočekávám perfektní angličtinu v podobných seriálech, ale bylo to tam zmíněno dvakrát. Možná mi něco uniká…

Já bych řekl, že správně bude pouze:

• I will be home before you are.

…případně…

• I will get home before you do.

1. I will get/be home before you.
2. I will get home before you will.
3. I will get home before you do.
4. I will be home before you are.
5. I will be home before you will.

None of these sound unacceptable to me. A native speaker is much less likely to say 2 or 5 (" … before you will") because the future indicator “will” isn't necessary. The time order is already shown by “before”. The shortest (and simplest) is 1.

Díky za příspěvek.

Já se na část věty po BEFORE díval jako na takovou tu časovou větu kde nesmí být “will” 

• I will be done with it before you will arrive.

A proto jsem předpokládal, že bude platit to samé:

• I will get home before you will.

The form of the verb is determined here more by meaning than grammar. The only way we can understand the sentence is by understanding the ellipsis.

In your sentence “I will be home before you (will)”, the action of the verb is the same (“being home” in the future). The difference is only between the agents (or subjects) – I and you. With the ellipsis, we understand that the missing words are " … before you will be / are home.

In the sentence “I will be done before you arrive” there is no ellipsis. There are two different actions: “I will be done” and “you will arrive”. So there is no ellipsis of words or verb form to understand, and the form of the verb will be determined by the use of tense after “before”.

Note that as I said in my earlier post, the versions with “will” (2 and 5) are unnecessarily longer, (but not unacceptable) and when we speak in everyday style, we normally choose the shortest and simplest way to convey our idea, unless there is some other stylistic reason (rhetoric, emphasis) to choose a different form of words.

English grammar is often descriptive (it tries to explain how we use grammar) rather than prescriptive (it sets rules about how we must use grammar). Your source is an American crime drama, and we don't know about the background of the speaker and the precise context. These always affect people's style – whether they're speaking carefully or carelessly.