J'attache mon tablier avant de préparer le dîner.

Because je becomes j' before a vowel sound. Since attache starts with a-, French contracts je to j' for smoother pronunciation.

So:

• je parle
• j'attache

This is very common in French:

• j'aime
• j'habite
• j'écoute

Attache is the first-person singular present tense form of the verb attacher, which usually means to tie, to fasten, or to put on and secure depending on context.

So:

• attacher = to fasten / tie
• j'attache = I fasten / I tie / I put on

In this sentence, with tablier (apron), it naturally means something like I put on / tie on my apron.

French possessive adjectives agree with the noun possessed, not with the owner.

Here, tablier is a masculine singular noun, so you use mon:

• mon tablier = my apron

Compare:

• mon livre = my book
• ma veste = my jacket
• mes chaussures = my shoes

Since tablier is masculine singular, mon is the correct form.

Un tablier means an apron.

It is a masculine noun:

• le tablier
• un tablier
• mon tablier

It is commonly used for cooking, baking, painting, or any activity where you want to protect your clothes.

After avant when it means before doing something, French normally uses de + infinitive.

So the pattern is:

• avant de + infinitive

Examples:

• avant de partir = before leaving
• avant de manger = before eating
• avant de préparer le dîner = before preparing dinner

So avant préparer is not correct here.

It is in the infinitive because it comes after the structure avant de.

French often uses an infinitive after certain prepositions or fixed expressions, especially when the subject stays the same.

Here the subject is still I:

• J'attache mon tablier avant de préparer le dîner. = I tie on my apron before preparing dinner.

Because the same person is doing both actions, French uses avant de + infinitive.

French often uses an article where English does not.

So French says:

• préparer le dîner literally to prepare the dinner

But in natural English, this is usually just to prepare dinner.

This does not necessarily mean a specific dinner in a strongly definite sense. It is just the normal French way to say it.

You see this often:

• j'aime le chocolat = I like chocolate
• je prends le petit-déjeuner = I eat breakfast
• préparer le dîner = prepare dinner

In this sentence, le dîner is a noun, meaning dinner.

You can tell because it has the article le before it:

• le dîner = dinner

French also has the verb dîner, which means to have dinner / to dine:

• Je dîne à 19h. = I have dinner at 7 p.m.

So:

• dîner by itself can be a verb
• le dîner is clearly the noun

It is the present tense.

Specifically:

• j'attache = I fasten / I am fastening / I do fasten

In French, the present tense can cover several ideas that English often separates:

• simple present: I fasten
• present continuous: I am fastening

In this sentence, English would most naturally translate it as:

• I tie on my apron before preparing dinner or
• I put on my apron before preparing dinner

The order is very normal for French:

• J'attache = subject + verb
• mon tablier = direct object
• avant de préparer le dîner = time expression / action that happens later

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + object + avant de + infinitive phrase

This is similar to English:

• I tie on my apron before preparing dinner.

French word order is often close to English in simple statements like this.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

zhah-tash mon tah-blee-ay ah-vahn duh pray-pah-ray luh dee-nay

A few pronunciation notes:

• J' sounds like the s in measure
• attache sounds like a-tash
• tablier is roughly ta-blee-ay
• avant has a nasal vowel, so the -an is not pronounced like English an
• préparer ends with the -é sound, like ay
• dîner also ends in ay

If you want to sound more natural, pay special attention to the smooth flow between words rather than pronouncing every letter separately.

Yes, you could say avant de faire le dîner, and it would be understandable. But préparer le dîner is often more precise and natural for preparing dinner.

Compare:

• préparer le dîner = to prepare dinner
• faire le dîner = to make dinner

Both can work, but préparer emphasizes the act of preparing the meal and is a very common choice here.

Often yes, but the structure matters.

• avant de + infinitive = before doing something
• avant que + clause = before someone does something

Examples:

• Je me lave les mains avant de manger. = I wash my hands before eating.

• Pars avant qu'il arrive. = Leave before he arrives.

So in your sentence, avant de préparer is used because it is followed by an infinitive, not a full conjugated clause.