Sofie zet haar mok op het bureau voordat de vergadering begint.

Zetten is the usual verb for putting something somewhere in an upright or placed position. A mug is an object you physically place on a surface, so Sofie zet haar mok op het bureau is very natural Dutch.

A few related verbs:

• zetten = put/set/place upright
• leggen = lay/put something down horizontally
• doen = do/put, but much less specific and often less natural here
• plaatsen = place, more formal

So in this sentence, zet is the everyday, idiomatic choice.

Haar means her. Since Sofie is female, haar mok means her mug.

In Dutch possessives:

• mijn = my
• jouw/je = your
• zijn = his
• haar = her
• ons/onze = our

So:

• Sofie zet haar mok... = Sofie puts her mug...
• If the subject were a man, you would normally get zijn mok.

Also note that haar here is a possessive adjective, not the object pronoun her in English.

Dutch nouns take either de or het as their definite article.

• het bureau = the desk
• de vergadering = the meeting

This is something you usually have to learn with each noun:

• bureau is a het-word
• vergadering is a de-word

There is not always a simple logic, though there are patterns. For example, many nouns ending in -ing are de-words, so de vergadering fits a common pattern.

Because voordat de vergadering begint is a subordinate clause.

In Dutch, subordinate clauses usually send the conjugated verb to the end. The word voordat means before, and it introduces a subordinate clause.

So the structure is:

• Main clause: Sofie zet haar mok op het bureau
• Subordinate clause: voordat de vergadering begint

That is why you get begint at the end, not in second position.

The main clause follows the normal Dutch V2 pattern, where the finite verb comes in the second position.

Here the order is:

• Sofie = subject
• zet = finite verb
• haar mok = direct object
• op het bureau = prepositional phrase

So the sentence is structured very normally: Subject + verb + object + place

If you moved another element to the front, the verb would still stay in second position:

• Op het bureau zet Sofie haar mok...

That is a key Dutch word-order rule.

Dutch often uses the present tense for future events when the context already makes the timing clear.

So voordat de vergadering begint literally uses present tense, but it refers to a future event: the meeting is going to start later.

This is very common in Dutch, just like in English in sentences such as:

• I’ll call you before the meeting starts.

English also often uses the present tense after time words like before, when, and after.

Op means on or onto, depending on context.

Here, because zetten expresses movement to a location, op het bureau means:

• onto the desk in a more literal movement sense
• or simply on the desk in natural English

Dutch often keeps the same preposition op whether you focus on the movement or the final location.

Compare:

• De mok staat op het bureau. = The mug is on the desk.
• Sofie zet de mok op het bureau. = Sofie puts the mug on the desk.

Yes. Bureau specifically means desk or office desk, not just any table.

Compare:

• het bureau = the desk
• de tafel = the table

So if the sentence is about a workplace or meeting room, bureau makes good sense. A learner should notice that Dutch distinguishes these everyday furniture words just as English does.

Both beginnen and starten can mean to start, but beginnen is often the more neutral, common everyday verb.

So:

• de vergadering begint = the meeting begins/starts
• de vergadering start is also possible, but can sound a bit different in tone depending on context

In many ordinary situations, beginnen is the safest and most natural choice.

Yes, voor de vergadering begint is also possible in many contexts and means roughly the same thing: before the meeting begins.

However:

• voordat is a conjunction meaning before
• voor is usually a preposition, but it can also appear before a clause in this kind of structure in everyday Dutch

For learners, voordat is especially useful because it clearly signals a subordinate clause. So it is often a very good form to learn first.

Begint is the third person singular present tense of beginnen.

The subject is de vergadering, which is singular, so Dutch uses:

• ik begin = I begin
• jij begint = you begin
• hij/zij/het begint = he/she/it begins
• de vergadering begint = the meeting begins

The same idea applies to zet from zetten:

• ik zet
• jij zet
• hij/zij zet
• Sofie zet

Because begint already means begins/starts by itself. Dutch does not need an extra auxiliary here.

Sometimes English learners expect something like is beginning, but Dutch often prefers the simple present:

• de vergadering begint = the meeting begins / the meeting is starting

Dutch uses the simple present very broadly, especially for scheduled or near-future events.

Yes. Dutch allows different elements to come first, but the finite verb in the main clause must still stay in second position.

For example:

• Voordat de vergadering begint, zet Sofie haar mok op het bureau.
• Op het bureau zet Sofie haar mok voordat de vergadering begint.

Notice what changes:

• When the subordinate clause comes first, the main clause still has the finite verb in second position: zet
• When op het bureau comes first, the subject moves after the verb: zet Sofie

This flexibility is very typical of Dutch, but the verb-position rules stay important.