Avant le dîner, j’approche la chaise de la table.

Because avant is followed by a normal noun phrase here, and le dîner means the dinner / dinner as a specific mealtime event.

So:

• avant le dîner = before dinner
• avant du dîner would not work in this sentence

In French, meals often take the definite article:

• le petit-déjeuner
• le déjeuner
• le dîner

So even when English often says before dinner with no article, French usually says avant le dîner.

It shows elision.

The full subject pronoun is je = I. But before a vowel sound, je becomes j’:

• je parle
• j’approche
• j’aime
• j’habite

This is very common in French and makes pronunciation smoother.

Because the subject is j’, meaning I.

The verb approcher is conjugated in the present tense like this:

• j’approche = I bring closer / I move closer
• tu approches
• il / elle / on approche
• nous approchons
• vous approchez
• ils / elles approchent

So j’approches would be incorrect. With je / j’, the correct ending is -e for this verb in the present.

Not exactly.

In English, to approach often means to move toward something yourself. In French, approcher can sometimes work that way, but in this sentence it means to bring something closer.

So:

• j’approche la chaise de la table = I move the chair closer to the table

This is a very natural use of approcher in French: placing one thing nearer to another.

French often uses the definite article more broadly than English does.

Here, la chaise and la table can refer to the chair and the table involved in the situation, even if English might simply say a chair or use no special emphasis.

Using la suggests these are identifiable in context:

• the chair being moved
• the table it is being moved toward

If you said une chaise, that would introduce the chair as less specific or as one chair among others. But la chaise sounds very natural when the speaker and listener both know which chair and table are meant.

Because approcher quelque chose de quelque chose can mean to bring something close to something.

So the structure is:

• approcher X de Y
• move X closer to Y

In this sentence:

• la chaise = the thing being moved
• de la table = toward / close to the table

The de here does not mean simple possession. It is part of the verb pattern.

Normally, no. In this meaning, French prefers de with approcher:

• j’approche la chaise de la table

Using à would sound unnatural here for standard French.

A learner may expect to the table, but French does not copy the English preposition. This is a good example of why verb + preposition combinations need to be learned as French patterns, not translated word-for-word.

Because the French present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive in English.

So j’approche la chaise de la table can mean:

• I move the chair closer to the table
• I am moving the chair closer to the table

French usually does not need a separate form like am moving. The simple present is enough unless the speaker wants extra emphasis.

Yes, that is also correct.

Both versions are possible:

• Avant le dîner, j’approche la chaise de la table.
• J’approche la chaise de la table avant le dîner.

Putting avant le dîner at the beginning gives it a little more emphasis as the time setting. Putting it at the end is also very natural.

Unlike English, French does not need inversion after this kind of opening phrase, so you still say:

• Avant le dîner, j’approche...

not some rearranged subject-verb order.

It is pronounced roughly like zhah-prosh.

A few helpful points:

• j’ sounds like the s in measure or the g in genre
• approche has two syllables: a-proche
• the final -e is silent

So the whole beginning:

• j’approche ≈ zhah-prosh

And:

• chaise sounds roughly like shez
• table sounds roughly like tah-bluh, though the last syllable is light

Yes, it can refer to either depending on context.

In French, dîner can be:

• a noun: dinner
• a verb: to have dinner / to dine

In your sentence, le dîner is clearly a noun because it has the article le:

• avant le dîner = before dinner

If it were the verb, the structure would be different, such as:

• avant de dîner = before having dinner / before eating dinner

That is a very useful contrast:

• avant le dîner = before dinner
• avant de dîner = before eating dinner

Yes.

• avant le dîner focuses on the event or mealtime
• avant de dîner focuses on the action of eating

In many situations, they are close in meaning, but they are not built the same way:

• avant + noun → avant le dîner
• avant de + infinitive → avant de dîner

So this sentence uses the noun version, not the infinitive version.