temporal logic with antes de que

temporal logic with antes de que
 

¡Hola!
I would appreciate it if you could check my understanding with regard to the temporal sequence of the actions in the past in the following sentences with the adverbial expression antes de que:
https://i125.fastpic.org/big/2025/09...4aa4b0a506.jpg
Please find the above-mentioned sentences for copying/pasting:
1. Antes de que la reunión terminara, Marta y Luisa se fueron.
Marta y Luisa left before the meeting ended.
2. Su madre murió antes de que él hubiese cumplido los dos años.
His mother died before he had been two.
3. (José dijo que) su madre murió antes de que él hubiese cumplido los dos años.
(Joseph said that) his mother (had) died before he had been two.

Thank you.

You have legitimate reasons to feel a bit stumped. All but the first sentence are odd and ambiguous to say the least.

Marta y Luisa se fueron antes de que la reunión terminará (the original order is possible but sounds literary)

"Su madre murió antes de que él hubiese cumplido los dos años" suggests he died too, renderering the phrase an absurdly complex tragedia griega, otherwise, as you correctly detected, the phrase is "su madre murió antes de que (él) cumpliera los dos años" ( his mother died before he reached age two) or better "perdió a su madre antes de cumplir los dos años"

I'm racking my brains to complete the original sentence so it makes some sense, logically and grammaticaly, but I got nothing, unless I change the tense

Su madre había muerto antes de que el hubiese cumplido los dos años.

It's a bit overkilking, because cumpliera is enough (imperfect subjunctive is adaptable, kind of a wildcard), but it's grammaticaly correct. If you tend to analyze everything as a timeline it may surprise you that había muerto happens before hubiera cumplido. But subjunctive is also used to say certain action didn't take place, which antes is demanding here

Your patch "Jose dijo que su madre había muerto ... " is correct. You should apply the same logic to the last sentence "Juan ya se había abrochado el cinturón de seguridad antes de que el avión despegará cuando el compartimiento portaequipaje se abrió de repente" "John had already fastened his seatbelt before the take-off when the overhead compartment suddenly opened."