Yağmur başlamadan önce samanı çuvala koyduk.

Başlamadan önce means before starting / before it started.

It breaks down like this:

• başla- = to start, begin
• -ma- = negative marker
• -dan = from / before in this structure
• önce = before

So başlamadan önce literally looks something like before not-starting-from, but as a whole it simply means before it started or before starting.

This is a very common Turkish pattern:

• gelmeden önce = before coming
• yemeden önce = before eating
• gitmeden önce = before going

In your sentence, it refers to the rain starting.

In this kind of clause, the subject is often left in its basic form, so yağmur başlamadan önce is normal and natural.

Here:

• yağmur = rain
• başlamadan önce = before starting / before it started

So together: before the rain started.

A learner might expect a possessive-style structure, but Turkish often uses a simpler subordinate clause with a finite-looking subject plus a non-finite verb form.

So:

• Yağmur başlamadan önce... = Before the rain started...
• This is a standard and natural way to say it.

The -ı is the accusative marker, used because samanı is the specific direct object of the verb koyduk.

• saman = hay
• samanı = the hay / a specific hay that is known in context

Turkish often marks a direct object with the accusative when it is:

• definite
• specific
• already known
• a particular thing

Compare:

• Saman koyduk. = We put hay. / We put some hay.
  More general, non-specific.

• Samanı koyduk. = We put the hay.
  A particular hay, known to the speakers.

So in your sentence, it sounds like they mean a specific amount or batch of hay.

Because koymak usually takes the dative case for the place something is put into / onto / toward.

• çuval = sack
• çuvala = into the sack / to the sack

This -a / -e ending is the dative case, often used for destination.

Compare:

• çuvala koymak = to put into the sack
• çuvalda = in the sack
• çuvaldan = out of the sack

So:

• samanı çuvala koyduk = we put the hay into the sack

If you said çuvalda, it would suggest location, not destination, which would not fit koymak here.

Koyduk means we put.

It breaks down like this:

• koy- = put, place
• -du- = past tense
• -k = we

So:

• koydum = I put
• koydun = you put
• koydu = he/she/it put
• koyduk = we put
• koydunuz = you (plural/formal) put
• koydular = they put

Turkish usually includes the person in the verb ending, so the subject pronoun is often omitted.

Because Turkish often drops subject pronouns when the verb already shows the subject clearly.

Here, koyduk already tells you the subject is we.

So:

• (Biz) samanı çuvala koyduk.
• Samanı çuvala koyduk.

Both mean we put the hay into the sack, but the second is more natural unless you want emphasis.

Turkish does this a lot:

• Geldim. = I came.
• Gittik. = We went.
• Yaptılar. = They did it.

Not completely, but the given order is very natural.

The sentence is:

• Yağmur başlamadan önce = time clause
• samanı = object
• çuvala = destination
• koyduk = verb

A very typical Turkish pattern is:

[time] + [object] + [place/direction] + [verb]

The verb usually comes at the end.

You could move things around for emphasis, for example:

• Samanı yağmur başlamadan önce çuvala koyduk.
• Çuvala samanı yağmur başlamadan önce koyduk.

These are still understandable, but the original version sounds smooth and standard.

Yes, but it would mean something slightly different.

• Yağmur başlamadan önce = before the rain started
• Yağmur yağmadan önce = before it rained / before rain fell

The first focuses on the start of the rain. The second focuses on the action of raining itself.

In many situations, both could work, but başlamak makes the timing feel more precise: the hay was put into the sack before the rain began.

Önce is what clearly gives the meaning before.

• başlamadan önce = before starting / before it started

If you say only başlamadan, it usually means without starting rather than before starting.

Compare:

• Yağmur başlamadan önce samanı çuvala koyduk.
  = We put the hay into the sack before the rain started.

• Yağmur başlamadan samanı çuvala koyduk.
  This may sometimes be understood from context, but it is less clear and can sound incomplete or less standard for this meaning.

So -madan önce is the safest pattern when you want to say before doing something.

Turkish does not have articles like English the and a/an.

Instead, Turkish often shows these meanings through:

• context
• word order
• case endings
• number
• words like bir

In this sentence:

• samanı suggests a specific hay because of the accusative ending
• çuvala just means into the sack, with the exact English article depending on context

So English needs articles, but Turkish usually does not.

For example:

• çuvala could become into the sack or into a sack in English depending on the situation
• samanı is more clearly the hay or that hay

Then you would usually remove the accusative ending from samanı.

So:

• Yağmur başlamadan önce samanı çuvala koyduk.
  = We put the hay into the sack.

• Yağmur başlamadan önce saman çuvala koyduk.
  This is less natural as a full sentence in many contexts, and Turkish often prefers a more complete or context-supported version, but the idea would be more like we put hay into a/the sack, with hay being non-specific.

In practice, with a concrete object in a sentence like this, Turkish often prefers the specific form if the speakers are talking about some known hay.

That is why samanı sounds very natural here.