Doordat het vlees bij de slager uitverkocht was, maakten wij pasta met kaas in plaats van soep.

Both can mean because, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

• omdat is the general, everyday word for because
• doordat often emphasizes a cause that led to a result, something like because of the fact that or as a result of

So here doordat fits well because the sold-out meat directly caused the change of plan. In casual speech, many speakers would also say omdat here.

Because doordat introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the finite verb usually goes to the end.

Compare:

• Main clause: Het vlees was uitverkocht.
• Subordinate clause: doordat het vlees uitverkocht was

So the word order changes because of the conjunction doordat.

Uitverkocht means sold out. It describes the state of something no longer being available because everything has been sold.

In het vlees was uitverkocht, uitverkocht is describing the meat, and was is the past tense of zijn. So the structure is very similar to English the meat was sold out.

Bij de slager means at the butcher's or from the butcher's shop. Dutch often uses bij when talking about places where you buy something or services you go to.

For example:

• bij de bakker = at the baker's
• bij de apotheek = at the pharmacy
• bij de dokter = at the doctor's

So het vlees bij de slager means the meat available at the butcher's shop.

This is because Dutch main clauses normally put the finite verb in the second position. The whole opening clause Doordat het vlees bij de slager uitverkocht was counts as the first element, so the verb of the main clause comes next.

That gives:

• first element: Doordat het vlees bij de slager uitverkocht was
• second element: maakten
• then the subject: wij

This is often called inversion. If the sentence started with the subject, you would get Wij maakten pasta met kaas...

Both wij and we mean we.

• we is the common unstressed form in everyday speech
• wij is the fuller form and can sound a bit more formal, careful, or emphatic

So maakten wij is correct, but in normal conversation many speakers would probably say maakten we.

Dutch often uses the simple past in storytelling, written narration, and when describing a past situation as a complete scene.

So:

• was = was
• maakten = made

In spoken Dutch, the perfect tense is also very common, so you could also hear something like hebben we pasta met kaas gemaakt. But the simple past sounds completely natural here.

Dutch often leaves out the article with food words when speaking generally about a dish or ingredient.

So:

• pasta met kaas = pasta with cheese
• in plaats van soep = instead of soup

This sounds natural when the speaker means food in a general sense, not a specific previously mentioned soup or specific pasta dish. If it were specific, you might see an article, such as in plaats van de soep.

In plaats van means instead of. It is followed here by a noun phrase: soep.

So:

• in plaats van soep = instead of soup

It can also be used with other kinds of complements, for example:

• in plaats van koffie = instead of coffee
• in plaats van te koken = instead of cooking

It is a very common expression and is worth learning as a fixed chunk.

Vlees is a het-word, so the definite form is het vlees.

In this sentence, het vlees refers to a specific understood thing: the meat at the butcher's. That is why the article is natural. By contrast, bare vlees often appears when speaking more generally, for example Ik eet geen vlees.

So the difference is not just de/het, but also whether the noun is being used in a specific or more general way.