Zij maakte de rommelige kast netjes voordat de gasten kwamen.

She tidied the messy cupboard before the guests arrived.

Breakdown of Zij maakte de rommelige kast netjes voordat de gasten kwamen.

• zij: she
• voordat: before
• maken: to make
• de kast: the cupboard
• komen: to come
• de gast: the guest
• netjes: neatly
• rommelig: messy

Questions & Answers about Zij maakte de rommelige kast netjes voordat de gasten kwamen.

Why is rommelige spelled with -e at the end?

In Dutch, an adjective that directly precedes a noun with the definite article de takes an -e ending. Here rommelig means “messy,” and because it comes before the de-noun kast, it becomes rommelige kast (“messy cupboard”).

What’s the role of netjes in this sentence? Why doesn’t it get an -e like rommelige?

Here netjes (“neat(ly)”) is used as an adverb modifying the verb maakte (“tidied/made”). It describes how she made the cupboard. Adverbs don’t inflect like attributive adjectives, so there’s no extra -e.

What tense is maakte, and could I use the perfect tense instead?

maakte is the simple past (imperfectum) of maken, which is a regular (weak) verb: stem maak- + -te + personal ending -. You can also use the perfect tense for this action, for example:
Zij heeft de rommelige kast netjes gemaakt voordat de gasten kwamen.

Why is kwamen placed at the very end of the clause?

Because voordat is a subordinating conjunction (“before”), it triggers verb-final word order in its clause. That means the finite verb (kwamen, “came”) must appear last.

What exactly does voordat mean, and how is it used?

voordat means “before.” It introduces a subordinate clause indicating an action that happens earlier than the main clause. Structure:
Main clause + voordat + subject + object(s) + … + finite verb.

Why is the subject pronoun Zij used instead of Ze?

Both zij and ze mean “she.” ze is more colloquial and very common in everyday speech. zij is used for emphasis, contrast or clarity—especially at the beginning of a sentence.

Why do we use the article de in de rommelige kast? Could it ever be het?

Dutch nouns are either common gender (“de”) or neuter (“het”). kast is a common-gender noun, so it always takes de in the singular. het kast would be ungrammatical.

Can I move the voordat-clause to the front? If so, what changes?

Yes. You can start with the subordinate clause, but you must still place its verb at the end, then invert the subject and verb of the main clause. For example:
Voordat de gasten kwamen, maakte zij de rommelige kast netjes.