Learn Arabic (Modern Standard): أشرب القهوة قبل العمل.

In Arabic, adverbs of time and place like قبل (before) and بعد (after) usually form a possession relationship with the noun that follows them (called an idafa). You just place the noun directly after the adverb. Literally, it's structured like 'the before of work'.

Why is the word for 'I' (أنا) missing from this sentence?

In Arabic, the subject pronoun is built right into the verb! The letter أ (alif) at the very beginning of أشرب tells us that the person doing the drinking is 'I'. You only need to add the separate word أنا if you really want to emphasize it.

Why does the sentence use القهوة (the coffee) when the English translation just says 'coffee'?

In English, we drop 'the' when talking about things in general, like 'I drink coffee.' In Arabic, we usually keep the definite article الـ (al-) for these general categories. So, أشرب القهوة literally means 'I drink the coffee,' but it translates naturally to English without 'the'.

Does the word قبل change how we pronounce the word العمل (work)?

Yes! Because قبل acts like the first part of a possession phrase, the noun after it is pulled into the genitive case. For a standard noun like العمل, this means it gets an 'i' sound (a kasra) at the end if you read it with full vowel endings: قبل العملِ (qabla al-'amali).