بعد أن تضع أمي الخبز على المائدة، أجلس مع الضيفة وأشرب قهوة.

In Arabic, possession is often shown by attaching a pronoun to the noun instead of using a separate word.

• أم = mother
• أمي = my mother

The ending ـي means my. So أمي is literally mother-my.

This is very common in Arabic:

• بيتي = my house
• كتابي = my book
• أخي = my brother

بعد أن means after followed by a whole verb clause, like after my mother puts...

• بعد = after
• أن introduces a verb

So:

• بعد أن تضع أمي الخبز... = after my mother puts the bread...

In English, we just say after + clause. In Arabic, أن is a normal way to connect بعد to a verb phrase in formal language.

Because in the Arabic imperfect, the form تضع can match more than one meaning when written without vowels. Context tells you which one is intended.

Here, أمي comes right after it, so the meaning is clearly:

• تضع أمي = my mother puts

So the verb is understood as third-person feminine singular, because أمي is feminine.

If the text were fully vocalized, the grammar would be clearer, but in normal Arabic writing, readers rely a lot on context.

Because verb + subject word order is very common in Arabic, especially in formal written Arabic.

So:

• تضع أمي الخبز = literally puts my mother the bread

That sounds unusual in English, but it is normal in Arabic.

You could also say:

• أمي تضع الخبز...

That puts more emphasis on my mother. Both are possible, but تضع أمي is a very natural MSA structure.

The Arabic imperfect tense can express several things, depending on context:

• a habitual action
• a general statement
• a future action

So this sentence can sound like:

• Whenever / after my mother puts the bread on the table, I sit with the guest and drink coffee or
• After my mother puts the bread on the table, I will sit with the guest and drink coffee

Arabic often leaves this to context. If this were clearly a past event, you would usually use past verbs instead:

• بعد أن وضعت أمي... جلستُ... وشربتُ...

Yes. In formal grammar, أن makes the following imperfect verb subjunctive.

So if fully vocalized, تضع here would be read as:

• تضعَ

But in normal Arabic writing, the short vowel at the end usually is not written, so you just see تضع.

This is a very common thing in Arabic: important grammar is often present, but invisible in unvocalized text.

If fully vocalized, the sentence would look roughly like this:

بعدَ أن تضعَ أمي الخبزَ على المائدةِ، أجلسُ معَ الضيفةِ وأشربُ قهوةً.

Some useful points:

• تضعَ: subjunctive after أن
• الخبزَ: direct object, so accusative
• المائدةِ: after على, so genitive
• أجلسُ and أشربُ: main-clause imperfect verbs, so indicative
• قهوةً: indefinite direct object, so usually accusative with tanwīn

Also, أمي is the subject of تضع, so it is nominative in function, even though that ending is not obvious in writing.

الضيفة means the female guest.

• ضيف = guest (often masculine, or sometimes generic depending on context)
• ضيفة = female guest

Arabic often marks natural gender more explicitly than English does. Since the sentence says الضيفة, the guest is female.

Also, because it comes after مع, it is grammatically in the genitive case, though that is usually not shown in ordinary spelling.

This is very natural in Arabic.

• الخبز = the bread
• قهوة = coffee / some coffee

A few things are going on:

1. الخبز may refer to a specific bread already understood in the situation.
2. Arabic often uses the definite article with nouns where English might use a more general form.
3. قهوة is a mass noun here, so the indefinite form can simply mean coffee or some coffee.

So the contrast is not strange in Arabic:

• put the bread on the table
• drink coffee

Here و simply means and.

• أجلس مع الضيفة وأشرب قهوة = I sit with the guest and drink coffee

Arabic often uses و very broadly, and sequence is understood from context. Since the earlier part already says after my mother puts the bread on the table, the order of events is clear enough.

If you wanted a stronger sense of then, you could use ثم:

• أجلس مع الضيفة ثم أشرب قهوة

That sounds more explicitly sequential.

Because على means on, and bread is being placed on the table.

• على = on / on top of
• المائدة = the table, especially a dining table or table set for food

So:

• على المائدة = on the table

Using في would mean in the table, which would not fit here. So على is the natural choice.