Davetliler gelmeden masa hazır olsun diye sürahiyi suyla doldurdum.

It has three main pieces:

• Davetliler gelmeden = a time clause
• masa hazır olsun diye = a purpose clause
• sürahiyi suyla doldurdum = the main clause

So the structure is roughly:

• before the guests came
• so that the table would be ready
• I filled the pitcher with water

This is very normal Turkish word order: background information first, main action last.

Davetliler comes from:

• davetli = invited person, guest
• -ler / -lar = plural suffix

So davetliler means the guests or more literally the invited people.

In everyday Turkish, davetli is a common way to say someone who has been invited to an event.

Gelmeden is built from:

• gel- = come
• -meden = before doing / without doing

So gelmeden can mean either:

• before coming
• without coming

In this sentence, with davetliler stated as the subject, it clearly means before the guests came / before the guests arrive.

This -meden / -madan form is a very common Turkish converb, used to connect actions.

Examples:

• yemeden çıktım = I left without eating / before eating
• sen gelmeden başladılar = they started before you came

Because Turkish often puts the subject separately before the converb.

Here:

• davetliler = the guests
• gelmeden = before coming

So together, davetliler gelmeden means before the guests came.

The form gelmeden itself does not show the person. The subject is understood from davetliler.

Because gelmeden is a non-finite form, not a fully tense-marked verb.

Turkish often leaves the exact tense of these subordinate clauses to context. The main verb here is doldurdum = I filled, which is past tense, so English naturally translates the earlier action as before the guests arrived/came.

So Turkish does not always match English tense word-for-word in subordinate clauses.

Yes. Davetliler gelmeden önce is also correct and very common.

Both mean basically the same thing:

• davetliler gelmeden
• davetliler gelmeden önce

The version with önce is a bit more explicit, because önce means before.
The version without önce is already complete and natural.

Here diye introduces a purpose:

• X olsun diye = so that X will be / would be

So masa hazır olsun diye means so that the table would be ready.

In other contexts, diye can also mean things like:

• saying
• thinking
• because
• so that

But in this sentence, it is clearly a purpose marker.

Olsun is the 3rd person form of olmak used in a wish, intention, or desired-result sense.

Here:

• hazır olsun = let it be ready / so that it will be ready

This is not a direct command in English style. In a purpose clause with diye, it expresses the intended result.

So:

• masa hazır olsun diye = in order for the table to be ready

Because masa is singular, the verb is singular too: olsun.

Because masa is the subject of hazır olsun, not the direct object.

In:

• masa hazır olsun

the structure is:

• masa = subject
• hazır = ready
• olsun = be / become

So it means the table should be ready.

If you used masayı, that would mark masa as a direct object, which is not what is happening here.

Yes, it is idiomatic.

In Turkish, masa hazır can mean more than just the table itself. It often refers to the table arrangement, meal setup, or general readiness for serving.

So depending on context, it can feel close to:

• the table is ready
• the table is set
• everything at the table is prepared

That is why this sentence sounds natural in a hosting or meal-preparation context.

Because sürahiyi is a definite, specific direct object.

Turkish often marks specific direct objects with the accusative ending:

• sürahi
  • -yi = sürahiyi

So sürahiyi doldurdum means I filled the pitcher, referring to a particular pitcher.

This is a key Turkish pattern:

• kitap okudum = I read a book / I did some book-reading
• kitabı okudum = I read the book

Here, the speaker has a specific pitcher in mind, so sürahiyi is the natural form.

Suyla means with water.

It comes from:

• su = water
• ile = with

In Turkish, ile is often attached to the noun as a suffix-like form:

• su ile
• suyla

Both are correct, but suyla is more compact and very natural.

The y appears because Turkish often uses a buffer consonant when attaching a vowel-initial ending to a vowel-final word.

It tells you what the pitcher was filled with.

So in:

• sürahiyi suyla doldurdum

the meanings are:

• sürahiyi = the pitcher
• suyla = with water
• doldurdum = I filled

This is a common Turkish pattern:

• bardağı sütle doldurdu = he/she filled the glass with milk
• çantayı kitaplarla doldurdu = he/she filled the bag with books

There is a small but important difference.

• sürahiyi suyla doldurdum = I filled the pitcher with water

  • focus on the pitcher becoming full

• sürahiye su doldurdum = I poured/filled water into the pitcher

  • focus on putting water into it, not necessarily that it became full

So accusative on the container plus ile often highlights the completed filling of that container.

Because Turkish strongly prefers to place the finite verb at the end of the sentence.

Everything before it builds the context:

• Davetliler gelmeden = time
• masa hazır olsun diye = purpose
• sürahiyi suyla = object + what it was filled with
• doldurdum = main action

This is one of the most important word-order habits in Turkish.

Yes, Turkish word order is flexible, but the version here is very natural and neutral.

This sentence puts things in a logical order:

1. when
2. why
3. what was acted on
4. the verb

You could move some parts for emphasis, but the current order is probably the most straightforward way to say it. The final verb doldurdum would usually stay at the end in normal prose.