pirms

In a sentence

• Es biju mājās pirms tu piezvanīji.

  I was at home before you called.

  Here, 'pirms' is used as a conjunction to relate the timing of two actions, indicating which one happened first.

• Viņa atnāca pirms svētkiem.

  She arrived before the holidays.

  In this sentence, 'pirms' is used as a preposition to indicate a specific time event preceding another mentioned event.

• Pirms ieiesi, novelc kurpes.

  Before you go inside, take off your shoes.

  Here, 'pirms' is again a conjunction, used to relate actions, instructing one to perform the second action in sequence after the first clause.