Després de sopar, eixuga el taulell i guarda el davantal a l'armari.

Després de + infinitive is a very common Catalan pattern meaning after doing something.

So:

• després de sopar = after eating dinner / after dinner
• literally, it is after dining

If you say després del sopar, that means after the dinner or after dinner with sopar treated as a noun. Both can exist, but després de sopar is the more general verbal idea: after having dinner.

This is similar to other Catalan patterns:

• abans de sortir = before going out
• després de treballar = after working

Yes. Eixuga is the informal singular imperative of eixugar.

So here it means:

• eixuga = wipe / dry

The sentence is giving instructions to one person, like:

• Wipe the counter and put away the apron in the cupboard.

Related forms:

• eixugar = to wipe, to dry
• eixuga! = wipe! / dry!
• eixugueu! = wipe! (to more than one person, or polite plural)
• eixugui! = wipe! (formal singular)

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb form already shows who the subject is.

So instead of saying:

• Tu eixuga el taulell...

Catalan normally just says:

• Eixuga el taulell...

That is the normal way to give commands. Adding tu would usually give extra emphasis, and in many contexts it can sound unnecessary.

This is because the masculine singular article el becomes l' before a vowel sound.

So:

• el taulell = the counter
• el davantal = the apron
• l'armari = the cupboard / wardrobe

Why?

• armari begins with a vowel, so el armari becomes l'armari

This apostrophe is very common in Catalan:

• l'aigua = the water
• l'home = the man
• l'escola = the school

Here taulell means something like:

• counter
• countertop
• worktop

In a kitchen context, it usually refers to the surface where you prepare food.

Depending on region and context, Catalan speakers may also use other words for similar ideas, but taulell is a perfectly normal word.

Here guarda means put away, store, or put back in its place.

So:

• guarda el davantal a l'armari = put the apron away in the cupboard/wardrobe

The basic verb guardar can mean:

• to keep
• to store
• to save
• to put away

So the exact English translation depends on context.

Catalan generally uses definite articles more often than English.

In English, instructions sometimes sound natural without an article in certain contexts, but in Catalan you usually keep the article with specific everyday objects:

• eixuga el taulell
• guarda el davantal

That sounds normal because we are talking about a specific counter and a specific apron in the situation.

Using the article here is the expected Catalan pattern.

Yes, davantal is masculine:

• el davantal = the apron

In Catalan, noun endings do not always tell you the gender with certainty. While many nouns ending in -a are feminine and many others are masculine, there are plenty of exceptions and less predictable endings.

So it is best to learn nouns together with their article:

• el davantal
• el taulell
• l'armari

Because Després de sopar is an introductory time expression.

The comma helps separate that opening phrase from the main commands:

• Després de sopar, eixuga el taulell...

This is similar to English:

• After dinner, wipe the counter...

In short sentences, punctuation can sometimes vary a bit, but the comma is very natural here.

Yes. In practice, it can naturally be understood either way.

Because sopar can be:

• a verb: to have dinner
• a noun: dinner

In després de sopar, the structure is grammatical as preposition + infinitive, so formally it is after having dinner. But in normal English translation, after dinner is often the most natural way to say it.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker would be:

• eixuga ≈ ay-SHOO-guh or ay-CHOO-guh, depending on accent
• taulell ≈ tow-LEY or tow-LAY

A few helpful notes:

• ei often sounds somewhat like ay
• x in many Catalan words sounds like sh
• ll in Catalan is often a palatal sound, somewhat like ly, though in modern speech it varies by dialect

Pronunciation differs across Catalan-speaking areas, so you may hear some variation.

Yes. Both are informal singular imperatives, so the speaker is telling one person to do two things:

• eixuga el taulell
• guarda el davantal a l'armari

The i simply links the two commands:

• wipe the counter and put away the apron in the cupboard

So the whole sentence is a sequence of instructions directed at one person.