На кухне готовится кофе, а я ставлю чашки на стол.

Because Russian does not always match English prepositions word-for-word.

With кухня, Russian normally says на кухне for in the kitchen. This is just the usual idiomatic choice.

So:

• на кухне = in the kitchen
• not usually в кухне in normal speech

A good rule for learners is: learn the noun together with its usual preposition.

Examples:

• на кухне = in the kitchen
• в комнате = in the room
• в доме = in the house

So even though English uses in for all of these, Russian uses different prepositions depending on the noun.

Кухне is in the prepositional case.

The preposition на can take different cases, but when it means location here, it takes the prepositional:

• кухня = kitchen
• на кухне = in the kitchen

This is why the ending changes from -я to -е.

Compare:

• кухня — dictionary form
• на кухне — in the kitchen

So the pattern is:

• на + prepositional for location: на кухне
• на + accusative for movement onto/to something: на стол

Here готовится means something like is being prepared or is brewing / is being made, depending on context.

The -ся ending often makes a verb reflexive, but in many sentences it also gives a passive-like meaning.

So:

• готовить кофе = to prepare coffee
• кофе готовится = coffee is being prepared / coffee is brewing

This is very natural in Russian. The sentence focuses on the process happening, not on who is doing it.

Other similar examples:

• Дом строится. = The house is being built.
• Ужин готовится. = Dinner is being prepared.

So in this sentence, готовится does not mean the coffee is getting ready itself in a literal sense. It is just a normal Russian way to express that the coffee is being made.

Кофе is an indeclinable noun in Russian, which means its form usually does not change across cases.

So you get:

• кофе
• нет кофе
• вижу кофе

The form stays the same.

The verb is singular because кофе is a singular noun: it refers to coffee, not multiple coffees.

So:

• готовится = singular
• not готовятся = plural

A useful extra note: кофе is traditionally treated as masculine in standard Russian, though in everyday speech some speakers also use neuter agreement in some contexts. For learners, the safest choice is to treat кофе as masculine singular.

А often links two clauses with a sense of contrast, comparison, or meanwhile.

In this sentence:

• На кухне готовится кофе, а я ставлю чашки на стол.

the idea is something like:

• Coffee is being made in the kitchen, and meanwhile I’m putting the cups on the table.

Why not и?

• и usually just adds another fact: and
• а often sets one thing against another or shifts attention: while / whereas / and meanwhile

Why not но?

• но means a stronger but
• here there is no real contradiction

So а is the most natural choice because it gently contrasts the two actions:

• over there, the coffee is being made
• meanwhile, I am setting out the cups

Because а is joining two clauses, and in Russian that normally requires a comma.

The two clauses are:

1. На кухне готовится кофе
2. я ставлю чашки на стол

Since each part has its own verb, Russian separates them with a comma.

This is very normal Russian punctuation:

• ..., а ...
• ..., и ...
• ..., но ...

when they connect full clauses.

Because ставлю is imperfective, and here the speaker is describing an action in progress.

• ставить = imperfective
• поставить = perfective

In this sentence, the meaning is:

• I am putting / setting the cups on the table

That is an ongoing present action, so ставлю is the natural choice.

If you said поставлю, that would usually mean I will put / I’ll put, because perfective verbs do not have a true present meaning in Russian.

Compare:

• Я ставлю чашки на стол. = I am putting the cups on the table.
• Я поставлю чашки на стол. = I will put the cups on the table.

Russian often chooses different verbs for put depending on the position of the object.

• ставить = to set/stand something upright
• класть = to lay something down

A cup normally stands upright on a table, so Russian uses ставить:

• ставить чашки на стол = to put/set cups on the table

If you were putting something flat down, Russian would more likely use класть:

• класть книгу на стол = to put a book on the table

This is one of those places where Russian is more specific than English.

Чашки is the accusative plural form of чашка.

It is the direct object of ставлю:

• Я ставлю что? — чашки

Since чашка is an inanimate noun, the accusative plural looks the same as the nominative plural:

• nominative plural: чашки
• accusative plural: чашки

So although the form looks simple, its job in the sentence is accusative.

Compare with an animate noun, where the plural accusative would look different:

• Я вижу студентов. = I see students.

But with inanimate nouns like чашки, the form stays the same.

Because this sentence shows movement onto the table, not location on the table.

With на:

• на + accusative = motion onto something
• на + prepositional = location on something

So:

• на стол = onto the table
• на столе = on the table

In the sentence, you are putting the cups there, so there is movement toward the table:

• ставлю чашки на стол

Compare:

• Чашки стоят на столе. = The cups are on the table.
• Я ставлю чашки на стол. = I’m putting the cups onto the table.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Russian present tense often covers both:

• simple present
• present continuous

So я ставлю can mean:

• I put
• I am putting

In this sentence, because another action is happening at the same time (готовится кофе), the natural English translation is usually I am putting.

This is very common in Russian:

• Я читаю. = I read / I am reading.
• Она готовит. = She cooks / She is cooking.

Context tells you which English form fits best.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible.

This sentence starts with На кухне to set the scene first:

• На кухне готовится кофе...

That sounds natural because it first tells us where the action is happening.

You could also say:

• Кофе готовится на кухне...

That is grammatical too, but the emphasis changes slightly. It puts coffee first rather than the location.

Similarly, in the second clause:

• я ставлю чашки на стол
• чашки я ставлю на стол

Both are possible, but they do not sound exactly the same in emphasis.

So the original word order is natural because it presents the situation smoothly:

1. set the location
2. mention what is happening there
3. contrast it with what I am doing