قبل الغداء تضع أمي القدر على النار.

قبل literally means before and often functions as a time word in Arabic.

In قبل الغداء, Arabic is using an iḍāfa structure, which is like saying:

• before + the lunch

So الغداء comes after قبل because it tells you before what.

Grammatically:

• قبلَ = before
• الغداءِ = lunch, in the genitive because it follows قبل in this structure

So the phrase means before lunch.

Because the subject is أمي = my mother, which is feminine singular.

The verb وَضَعَ / يَضَعُ means to put. In the present/imperfect tense, the she form is:

• تضعُ = she puts

So:

• تضع أمي = my mother puts

If the subject were a male person, you would use:

• يضع = he puts

This is very normal in Modern Standard Arabic.

Arabic often uses verb–subject–object order:

• تضع أمي القدر
  puts my mother the pot

Natural English uses subject–verb–object, but Arabic commonly allows:

• أمي تضع القدر = My mother puts the pot
• تضع أمي القدر = My mother puts the pot

Both are possible, but the version with the verb first is especially common in MSA.

أمي is:

• أم = mother
• ـي = my

So أمي literally means my mother.

This is a possessive construction with a suffix pronoun attached directly to the noun. Arabic often says possession this way instead of using a separate word like of.

Also, because it already means my mother, you do not put الـ on it. So you say:

• أمي = my mother
  not
• الأمي

Here القدر means the pot or the cooking pot.

This word can be confusing because the same spelling قدر can represent different words depending on pronunciation and context, such as meanings related to fate or value. In this sentence, because of the cooking context with على النار, it clearly means the pot.

So:

• القدر = the pot

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• الغداء = the lunch / lunch
• القدر = the pot
• النار = the fire

In translation, English does not always use the in the same places. For example, English usually says before lunch, not before the lunch. But in Arabic, الغداء can still naturally appear with الـ.

Likewise, على النار is a common expression meaning something like on the fire / on the stove / over the heat.

Because على means on, and that is the normal expression here.

• على النار literally means on the fire
• in natural context, it often means on the stove, on the burner, or over the heat

If you said في النار, that would mean in the fire, which suggests the pot is actually inside the flames. That is usually not what is meant.

So على النار is the idiomatic and correct phrase for cooking.

By itself, تضع is an imperfect verb, and that form can cover several meanings in English depending on context:

• she puts
• she is putting
• sometimes she will put

In this sentence, because of قبل الغداء, the most natural reading is usually a habitual or routine action:

• Before lunch, my mother puts the pot on the stove.

So here it sounds most like puts rather than is putting.

If fully vocalized, the sentence would be:

قَبْلَ الغَداءِ تَضَعُ أُمِّي القِدْرَ عَلَى النَّارِ

The endings are there for grammatical reasons:

• قبلَ: accusative as an adverbial expression of time
• الغداءِ: genitive because it follows قبل in an iḍāfa-like relationship
• تضعُ: final ـُ for the indicative imperfect
• أمّي: nominative as the subject, though the case is not clearly visible because of the attached ـي
• القدرَ: accusative because it is the direct object
• النارِ: genitive because it comes after على

In normal unvoweled writing, most of these endings are not written.

It is an adverbial time expression. It tells you when the action happens.

The core sentence is:

• تضع أمي القدر على النار
• My mother puts the pot on the stove

Then قبل الغداء adds the time:

• Before lunch

Arabic very often places this kind of time phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

Yes. That would also be correct.

Arabic word order is flexible, so these are both possible:

• قبل الغداء تضع أمي القدر على النار
• أمي تضع القدر على النار قبل الغداء

The difference is mainly one of style and emphasis:

• starting with قبل الغداء highlights the time first
• starting with أمي highlights the subject first

Both mean essentially the same thing.

Literally, yes:

• النار = the fire

But in cooking contexts, Arabic often uses النار in a broader practical sense to mean:

• the flame
• the heat
• the burner
• sometimes what English would naturally call the stove

So in this sentence, على النار is best understood as on the stove / on the heat, even though the literal words are on the fire.