بعد أن خرجت الضيفة، ساعدتني أمي ونظفنا المائدة والمطبخ.

بعد أن means after when it is followed by a full verb clause.

So:

• بعد = after
• أن خرجت الضيفة = the guest left

Together: بعد أن خرجت الضيفة = after the guest left

In MSA, بعد can be followed by:

• a noun: بعدَ الدرسِ = after the lesson
• or a clause with أن: بعد أن خرجت الضيفة = after the guest left

Here أن introduces the verb clause after بعد.

Because the subject is الضيفة = the female guest, which is feminine singular.

In the past tense, the verb agrees with a feminine singular subject by taking -ت:

• خرجَ = he went out / left
• خرجتْ = she went out / left

So:

• خرجت الضيفة = the female guest left

The same thing happens later in:

• ساعدتني أمي = my mother helped me

because أمي is also feminine.

Because verb-first word order is very common in Arabic, especially in MSA.

So instead of English-style:

• the guest left
• my mother helped me

Arabic often says:

• خرجت الضيفة
• ساعدتني أمي

This is a normal verb–subject pattern.

Arabic can also use subject-first order in some contexts, but the verb-first order here is very natural and common in narrative sentences.

الضيفة means the female guest.

It comes from:

• ضيف = male guest / guest
• ضيفة = female guest

The ـة ending is a common feminine marker in Arabic nouns.

Also, the الـ at the beginning means the, so:

• ضيفة = a female guest
• الضيفة = the female guest

ساعدتني has three parts:

• ساعد = help
• ت = past tense marker for she here
• ني = me

So:

• ساعدتني = she helped me

Then the noun أمي tells you who she is:

• ساعدتني أمي = my mother helped me

This is very common in Arabic: object pronouns are attached directly to the verb.

Because أمي means my mother.

• أم = mother
• أمي = my mother

The ending ـي is the possessive pronoun my.

So:

• أمي = my mother
• أبوك = your father
• بيتنا = our house

In this sentence, أمي is the subject of ساعدتني.

نظفنا means we cleaned.

The نا at the end here is the subject ending for we in the past tense.

So the sentence means:

• ساعدتني أمي = my mother helped me
• ونظفنا... = and we cleaned...

The we refers to my mother and I.

So the idea is:

After the guest left, my mother helped me, and we cleaned the table and the kitchen.

This shift is very natural: first the sentence mentions my mother helped me, then it continues with the result that both of us cleaned.

Because ساعدتني أمي specifically means my mother helped me.

The pronoun ني means me, not us.

So the meaning is:

• first: my mother helped me
• then: we cleaned

These are two separate actions with different participants:

1. My mother helped me
2. My mother and I cleaned

If the sentence said ساعدتنا أمي, it would mean my mother helped us, which is a different meaning.

It means we cleaned the table and the kitchen.

Breakdown:

• نظفنا = we cleaned
• المائدة = the table / dining table
• و = and
• المطبخ = the kitchen

So:

• نظفنا المائدة والمطبخ = we cleaned the table and the kitchen

Note that المائدة often refers to a dining table, especially in more formal Arabic.

Because both nouns have الـ, the Arabic definite article the:

• المائدة = the table
• المطبخ = the kitchen

Arabic often uses the definite article where English might or might not use it, depending on context. Here, since the sentence is talking about specific things in the house, the table and the kitchen is very natural.

Yes. They are the things being cleaned, so they are direct objects of نظفنا.

If the sentence were fully vowelled, they would be in the accusative case:

• المائدةَ
• المطبخَ

But in normal Arabic writing, these short case endings are usually not written, so you just see:

• المائدة
• المطبخ

The و means and.

So:

• ساعدتني أمي = my mother helped me
• ونظفنا... = and we cleaned...

It links the two actions in sequence.

This is extremely common in Arabic storytelling and narration: one action is followed by another using و.

Yes. Arabic has other ways to express after the guest left.

For example, a learner may also see structures like:

• بعد خروج الضيفة = after the guest’s leaving / after the guest left

This version uses a verbal noun-style structure rather than a full clause.

But بعد أن خرجت الضيفة is very straightforward and very clear for learners because it uses a full verb clause.

A careful fully vowelled reading would be approximately:

بَعْدَ أَنْ خَرَجَتِ الضَّيْفَةُ، سَاعَدَتْنِي أُمِّي وَنَظَّفْنَا الْمَائِدَةَ وَالْمَطْبَخَ.

A few things to notice:

• خَرَجَتِ الضَّيْفَةُ: the final -t of خرجت connects smoothly before the next word
• سَاعَدَتْنِي: the ني is attached directly to the verb
• نَظَّفْنَا: the doubled consonant in ظّ is important
• الْمَائِدَةَ and الْمَطْبَخَ are accusative as direct objects

In ordinary unvowelled writing, all these short vowels are usually omitted.

Yes. It is very typical MSA narrative style.

It has several common features:

• a time expression at the beginning: بعد أن...
• verb-first clauses: خرجت الضيفة, ساعدتني أمي
• attached object pronouns: ساعدتني
• coordination with و
• a shift to a plural verb to show shared action: نظفنا

So this is a very good example of natural, standard written Arabic.