Voordat ik de saus maak, meet ik de olie af met een theelepel.

Because voordat introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch, subordinate clauses usually send the conjugated verb to the end.

So:

• Voordat ik de saus maak = Before I make the sauce

Compare that with a main clause:

• Ik maak de saus = I make the sauce

This verb-at-the-end pattern is one of the most important Dutch sentence patterns to learn.

Dutch main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule. That means the conjugated verb comes in the second position.

In this sentence, the first position is taken by the whole clause:

• Voordat ik de saus maak

So the main clause must begin:

• meet ik de olie af ...

not:

• ik meet de olie af ...

If the sentence started directly with the subject, then you would get:

• Ik meet de olie af met een theelepel.

So the inversion happens because something else comes first.

The verb here is afmeten, which means to measure out.

Dutch has many separable verbs. In a main clause, the prefix often splits off and moves later in the sentence.

So:

• infinitive: afmeten
• main clause: ik meet de olie af
• subordinate clause: dat ik de olie afmeet

Compare:

• Ik meet de olie af.
• Omdat ik de olie afmeet, heb ik een theelepel nodig.

This is very common in Dutch:

• opbellen → Ik bel je op
• aandoen → Ik doe het licht aan
• meenemen → Ik neem het mee

No. It only looks similar.

Dutch meten means to measure. So:

• ik meet = I measure

It is a false friend for English speakers, because English meet means something completely different.

Meten means to measure in a general sense.

Afmeten often means to measure out, especially when you are portioning an ingredient or taking a specific amount.

So in a cooking context:

• Ik meet de olie.
  = I measure the oil.
  This sounds more general.

• Ik meet de olie af.
  = I measure out the oil.
  This fits a recipe much better.

So af gives the idea of measuring out a usable amount.

It means with a teaspoon.

Here met shows the instrument used to do the measuring:

• Ik meet de olie af met een theelepel. = I measure out the oil with a teaspoon.

In context, this usually means the speaker is using a teaspoon as the measuring tool.

Be careful not to confuse this with:

• een theelepel olie = a teaspoon of oil

That phrase gives the amount. But met een theelepel tells you what you use to measure it.

Because both nouns take the article de.

In Dutch, singular nouns usually take either:

• de
• or het

Unfortunately, for many nouns you simply have to learn the article with the word.

Here:

• de saus = the sauce
• de olie = the oil

There is not always a simple rule you can rely on, so it is best to memorize nouns together with their articles.

Dutch often uses the present tense for:

• habitual actions
• instructions
• recipe steps
• near future actions

So this sentence can naturally mean something like:

• Before I make the sauce, I measure out the oil with a teaspoon.

That works in English too. In recipe-style language, the present tense is very normal.

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause:

• Voordat ik de saus maak, ...

In Dutch, a comma is normally used to separate that opening clause from the main clause that follows.

So the structure is:

• subordinate clause + comma + main clause

This is standard punctuation.

Yes, very often you can.

Both can mean before I make the sauce:

• Voordat ik de saus maak, ...
• Voor ik de saus maak, ...

Voordat is a little more explicit and is very common in careful standard Dutch. Voor used as a conjunction is also common, especially in everyday language.

For a learner, voordat is often easier because it clearly signals a clause.

In a Dutch main clause with a separable verb, the split prefix usually comes later:

• Ik meet de olie af.

The direct object de olie normally comes before that final separable part.

Then extra information like met een theelepel can follow:

• Ik meet de olie af met een theelepel.

So the order is very natural:

• meet = conjugated verb
• ik = subject
• de olie = object
• af = separable prefix
• met een theelepel = prepositional phrase

Dutch word order can vary somewhat, but this version is straightforward and idiomatic.

That happens in places where Dutch uses the infinitive or where the whole verb cluster goes to the end, especially in subordinate clauses.

For example:

• Ik wil de olie afmeten. = I want to measure out the oil.

• Voordat ik de olie afmeet, pak ik een theelepel. = Before I measure out the oil, I grab a teaspoon.

So:

• main clause: ik meet ... af
• infinitive: afmeten
• subordinate clause: afmeet

That is the pattern to watch for with separable verbs.

Yes. Dutch often forms compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• thee
  • lepel → theelepel

Other examples:

• kookboek = cookbook
• keukentafel = kitchen table
• olijfolie = olive oil

English speakers often want to write these as separate words, but Dutch normally joins them.

Yes. That is a perfectly natural English rendering.

The Dutch sentence structure does not force you to keep the exact same order in English. Since the meaning is already clear, it is useful to know that good English translations could include:

• Before I make the sauce, I measure out the oil with a teaspoon.
• I measure out the oil with a teaspoon before making the sauce.

Both match the Dutch well.