Thread: Help translating a couple sentences

I am trying to translate these sentences off of this website but am having a few difficulties.

Когда мы пришли в класс, учитель уже ушёл домой.
Мы успели сыграть партию в шахматы до того, как пришёл Андрей.

There are a few problems for me so I will go one by one.

1) партию в шахматы translates as "a game of chess" I think? Wondering if this is some special use of в I am unaware of. I thought "a game of chess" would be партию шахмат using the genitive so I am unclear on that.

2) до того is "until that time" or "until that point" or something like that I think? I have looked up both words and their uses and still am not sure how it is being used here exactly.

3) I know как has a lot of different uses. Here I'm not sure what it is. Is it "as Andre came in"? Honestly, this whole cluster "до того, как пришёл Андрей" has me confused.


This is my best translation at this point.

When we arrived in class, the teacher had already gone home. We had plenty of time to play a game of chess before Andre arrived.

Sorry there are so many points to cover. If it wasn't for this forum I don't know how I would go about learning this language. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Originally Posted by lenssideways8

1) партию в шахматы translates as "a game of chess" I think? Wondering if this is some special use of в I am unaware of. I thought "a game of chess" would be партию шахмат using the genitive so I am unclear on that.

The preposition в (+accusative) is used with the verb играть ‘to play’ before the name of the game:
игра́ть в ша́хматы ‘play chess’
игра́ть в футбо́л ‘play football’
игра́ть в пря́тки ‘play hide-and-seek’

With musical instruments, на (+prep.) is used instead:
игра́ть на гита́ре ‘play guitar’
игра́ть на скри́пке ‘play violin’

Originally Posted by lenssideways8

2) до того is "until that time" or "until that point" or something like that I think?

You’re right.

Originally Posted by lenssideways8

3) I know как has a lot of different uses. Here I'm not sure what it is. Is it "as Andre came in"?

Yes. Как пришёл Андрей here means something like ‘the event of Andrey’s coming’.
In English one can say e.g. ‘I saw you leaving the house’.
In Russian you cannot use a participle here (technically, you can, but it wouldn’t sound natural). Instead, you can say «Я ви́дел, как ты вы́шел из до́ма», literally, ‘I saw as you left the house’.

Originally Posted by lenssideways8

When we arrived in class, the teacher had already gone home. We had plenty of time to play a game of chess before Andre arrived.

Correct. Well done!

до того, как should be viewed as an unit. And indeed, it will be translated as "before".
You can look at this (for some reason, commas are missing in the examples)
до того как - Перевод на английский - примеры русский | Reverso Context
Прежде чем will do either:
прежде чем - Перевод на английский - примеры русский | Reverso Context

"В" is required when they talk about playing games, so: в шахматы, в теннис, ...
But: федерация шахмат, история тенниса, магия футбола etc.

Thank you for clearing up those points for me. Much appreciated.