قبل أن تأتي الضيفة، يرتب صديقي الغرفة ويضع الكراسي عند المائدة.

قبل أن means before when it is followed by a verb.

So:

• قبل = before
• أن = a particle that introduces a verb clause, often similar to to or part of structures like before ... happens

In this sentence:

• قبل أن تأتي الضيفة = before the female guest comes

A very literal breakdown would be:

• قبل = before
• أن تأتي = that she comes / to come
• الضيفة = the female guest

So قبل أن + verb is a very common pattern in Arabic.

Because the subject is الضيفة, which is feminine singular.

Arabic present-tense verbs agree with the subject in gender and number. For a feminine singular subject, the verb usually takes the تـ form:

• هي تأتي = she comes
• الضيفة تأتي = the female guest comes

If the subject were masculine, you would use يأتي:

• الضيف يأتي = the male guest comes

So تأتي matches الضيفة correctly.

Because verb-first order is very common in Arabic.

Arabic often uses:

• Verb + Subject
  rather than
• Subject + Verb

So both of these can exist:

• تأتي الضيفة = the female guest comes
• الضيفة تأتي = the female guest comes

The first one, with the verb first, is very natural in Arabic, especially in connected prose and narration.

Here أن is a particle that puts the following present-tense verb into the subjunctive.

That is why you get:

• تأتي rather than a form with final ـُ in full vocalization

In unvowelled writing, you usually will not see much difference here, but grammatically it matters.

So:

• أن
  • present verb = subjunctive
• قبل أن تأتي = before she comes

This is a very important grammar pattern in Modern Standard Arabic.

Because the Arabic present tense is broader than the English present tense.

In Arabic, the present tense can express:

• habitual action
• present action
• near future
• general sequence in a story or description

So in this sentence, the present verbs can naturally describe a repeated or typical situation:

• قبل أن تأتي الضيفة، يرتب صديقي الغرفة ويضع الكراسي عند المائدة.

This can mean something like:

• Before the guest comes, my friend tidies the room and places the chairs at the table.

Arabic does not need a separate future form here.

Both are possible, but they have slightly different style or emphasis.

• يرتب صديقي الغرفة = verb-first; very natural in Arabic
• صديقي يرتب الغرفة = subject-first; can sound a bit more emphatic or topic-focused, like my friend is the one tidying the room

Arabic often prefers verb-first order in neutral narration.

So the sentence uses a very standard structure:

• يرتب = he arranges/tidies
• صديقي = my friend
• الغرفة = the room

Because صديقي means my friend.

Breakdown:

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So:

• صديقي = my friend

This ـي is a possessive suffix attached directly to the noun.

Because the ـي here is the possessive suffix my, and that changes the form of the noun.

In full grammar terms, صديقي is in an iḍāfa-like possessive construction with the suffix ـي. In normal unvowelled writing, you simply see:

• صديقي = my friend

You do not usually write the case ending in everyday Arabic texts.

So for a learner, the important point is:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

Because both nouns have الـ, the Arabic definite article the.

• الغرفة = the room
• الكراسي = the chairs

This makes the sentence more specific. It is talking about a particular room and particular chairs, not just any room or any chairs.

Also note:

• الغرفة is the object of يرتب
• الكراسي is the object of يضع

In fully vowelled Arabic, these objects would be in the accusative case, but in normal writing that is usually not shown.

Because Arabic, like English, can coordinate two verbs with the same subject without repeating the subject.

So:

• يرتب صديقي الغرفة = my friend tidies the room
• ويضع الكراسي عند المائدة = and places the chairs at the table

The subject صديقي is understood to apply to both verbs:

• يرتب
• يضع

This is completely normal and very common.

This is a very useful question.

• عند المائدة = at the table / by the table
• على المائدة = on the table

So in this sentence:

• يضع الكراسي عند المائدة = he places the chairs at the table

That makes sense because chairs go next to a table, not usually on a table.

So عند shows location near or at something, while على means physically on top of something.

Usually مائدة refers especially to a dining table or a table associated with food.

So:

• مائدة = dining table / table
• عند المائدة = at the table

If you are thinking of a table in a more general furniture sense, Arabic can also use طاولة in many contexts.

Here المائدة fits very well because the sentence suggests preparing for a guest.

No. الضيفة means female guest.

That is a very common point of confusion.

• ضيف = male guest
• ضيفة = female guest

A hostess would be something different, such as:

• مضيفة in some contexts
• or another word depending on the situation

So here الضيفة definitely means the female guest.

الكراسي is a broken plural.

Singular:

• كرسي = chair

Plural:

• كراسي = chairs

In Arabic, many plurals are not made by simply adding an ending. Instead, the internal pattern changes. That is called a broken plural.

This is something learners just gradually get used to.

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

qabla an taʾtiya aḍ-ḍayfatu, yurattibu ṣadiqi al-ghurfata wa-yaḍaʿu al-karasiya ʿinda al-maʾidati

In normal pausal reading, learners often say it more simply as:

qabla an taʾti al-ḍayfa, yurattib ṣadiqi al-ghurfa wa-yaḍaʿ al-karasi ʿinda al-maʾida

A few pronunciation notes:

• ض in الضيفة is an emphatic sound
• تأتي has a glottal stop in the middle: taʾti
• مائدة also has a glottal stop: maʾida
• صديقي has a long ii sound at the end: ṣadiiqii

For many learners, the trickiest words here are تأتي and مائدة because of the hamza.

It can describe either, depending on context, but it most naturally sounds habitual or like a general routine.

Because the verbs are in the present tense:

• يرتب
• يضع
• تأتي

the sentence can easily mean something like:

• Before the guest comes, my friend tidies the room and puts the chairs at the table.

That sounds like a regular or typical action.

If Arabic wanted to make a single completed past event very clear, it would normally use past-tense verbs instead.