أنا أساعدها وهي ترتب المائدة قبل أن تصل الضيفة.

Because Arabic verbs usually already show the subject. أساعد by itself means I help / I am helping. So أنا is not required here.

Adding أنا gives emphasis, contrast, or extra clarity. In other words:

• أساعدها = completely normal and grammatical
• أنا أساعدها = I am helping her / I am the one helping her

It has two parts:

• أساعد = I help / I am helping
• ها = her

So أساعدها literally means I help her.

This is very common in Arabic: object pronouns are often attached directly to the verb instead of being separate words.

Yes, most naturally they do.

• ها = her
• هي = she

So the sentence is talking about one woman: I help her, while she arranges the table...

Arabic often repeats the subject with a separate pronoun when a new clause begins. This helps make the reference clear.

Here و is not just a simple and. In this kind of sentence, it often introduces a circumstantial clause, meaning something like while or as.

So وهي ترتب المائدة is best understood as:

• while she arranges the table
• while she is setting the table

This is a very common Arabic pattern: و + pronoun + verb to show an accompanying action or state.

In a plain sentence, ترتب المائدة can mean she arranges the table.

But in وهي ترتب المائدة, the pronoun هي helps form the while she... idea clearly. It makes the second clause feel like a separate but connected action.

So in this sentence, هي is there for structure and clarity, not just emphasis.

Because the present-tense form ترتب can be ambiguous by itself in unvowelled Arabic writing. It can match:

• she arranges
• you (masculine singular) arrange

The pronoun هي removes the ambiguity. Since the sentence says هي ترتب, the meaning is clearly she arranges / she is arranging.

In Arabic, the present tense often covers both meanings.

So:

• أساعدها can mean I help her or I am helping her
• ترتب can mean she arranges or she is arranging
• تصل can mean she arrives or she is arriving

The context tells you which English translation sounds best. In this sentence, the ongoing sense is natural, so English usually uses am helping and is arranging.

Not exactly.

• المائدة usually means a dining table or a table prepared for a meal
• الطاولة is a more general word for table

So ترتب المائدة often means something like she sets the table or she arranges the dining table, not just any random table.

قبل means before. When Arabic follows before with a full verb clause, it commonly uses:

• قبل أن + present verb

So:

• قبل أن تصل الضيفة = before the guest arrives

Here أن makes the following present verb grammatically subjunctive. In fully vowelled Arabic, the ending would show that more clearly, even though the spelling without vowels looks the same.

This structure can also refer to a future event relative to the main action, so Arabic does not need a separate future marker here.

A more noun-based alternative would be:

• قبل وصول الضيفة = before the guest’s arrival

Because the subject is الضيفة, which is feminine singular and means the female guest.

Arabic verbs agree with their subjects in gender, so with a feminine singular subject you use the feminine form:

• هي تصل = she arrives

That is why the sentence has تصل الضيفة.

Because الضيفة means the female guest or the guest as a specific known person.

• الضيفة = the female guest
• ضيفة = a female guest

So the definite article ال shows that this guest is already identifiable in the context.

Because Arabic very often uses verb + subject order, especially in neutral narration and after words like أن.

So تصل الضيفة is very natural and means the guest arrives.

You can also say الضيفة تصل, but that tends to put a little more focus on the guest. In this sentence, تصل الضيفة is the more neutral flow.