Learn French: Pétris bien la pâte, puis couvre-la avec le torchon. - Knead the dough well, then cover it with the dish towel.

Both pétrir (to knead) and couvrir (to cover) are -ir verbs, but they follow different rules. Pétrir is a regular -ir verb, so its tu form keeps the 's' (pétris). Couvrir is an irregular -ir verb that is conjugated like an -er verb. In the imperative, -er verbs drop the final 's' in the tu form, which is why we get couvre.

Why is the pronoun attached with a hyphen in couvre-la?

In affirmative commands, French uses the imperative form and places the object pronoun directly after the verb, joined by a hyphen. Here, la refers to la pâte (the dough). If it were a negative command, the pronoun would go back in front of the verb: ne la couvre pas (do not cover it).

Does la pâte mean pasta here?

No, in the singular, la pâte usually refers to dough, batter, or pastry. When you want to talk about pasta, you almost always use the plural form: les pâtes.

Why is bien placed right after the verb instead of after the object?