This is the 2107th most frequent Russian word.
раньше
"Earlier" or "before."
In this sentence, 'раньше' refers to a prior time in the subject's past, emphasizing the difference between their previous and current situation.
Раньше я жил в Москве.
I used to live in Moscow.
Here, 'раньше' indicates a comparison of the current state of the room to how it was in the past, highlighting changes over time.
Раньше в этой комнате было намного светлее.
It used to be much brighter in this room before.
In this instance, 'раньше' denotes that one event (his arrival) occurred before another event (my arrival), showing a temporal precedence.