Post la vespermanĝo mi malplenigas la tason kaj lavas ĝin tuj.

Esperanto often makes compound words by combining smaller parts into one word.

• vesper- = evening
• manĝo = meal, eating

So vespermanĝo literally means evening meal, i.e. dinner/supper. This is very normal in Esperanto. The main idea usually comes at the end, so this is a kind of manĝo.

Esperanto uses la in places where English sometimes uses no article, especially with regular daily events or things understood from context.

So post la vespermanĝo is a very natural way to say after dinner / after the evening meal.

A useful thing to remember:

• Esperanto has la = the
• Esperanto has no separate word for a/an

Because post is a preposition, and nouns after ordinary prepositions usually do not take -n.

So:

• post la vespermanĝo = after the dinner

The -n ending is mainly used for direct objects and some other special cases. Here, vespermanĝo is simply the object of the preposition post, not the direct object of a verb.

Because la tason is the direct object.

The verb malplenigas is acting on the cup, so taso gets the accusative ending -n:

• taso = cup
• tason = cup as the direct object

In this sentence, the speaker is doing something to the cup, so -n is required.

Malplenigas is built from several parts:

• plen = full
• mal- = opposite
• -ig- = cause to become
• -as = present tense

So malplenigas literally means causes to become empty.

That is why it means empties.

This kind of word-building is very common in Esperanto, and learning to spot the pieces will help a lot.

This is an important Esperanto distinction.

• malplenigas = empties something, makes something empty
• malpleniĝas = becomes empty

So:

• Mi malplenigas la tason = I empty the cup
• La taso malpleniĝas = The cup becomes empty

The sentence needs the transitive form because the speaker is actively doing the emptying.

-as is the present-tense verb ending in Esperanto.

So:

• malplenigas = empties / is emptying
• lavas = washes / is washing

Esperanto -as does not force the same distinction English makes between I wash and I am washing. Context tells you whether it is a habitual action, a general statement, or something happening right now.

Ĝin means it as a direct object, and here it refers to la tason.

• ĝi = it
• ĝin = it as object

The speaker first mentions the cup, and then uses ĝin to avoid repeating la tason.

So:

• lavas ĝin = washes it

For the same reason tason has -n: it is a direct object.

In Esperanto, pronouns also take the accusative ending when they are objects:

• li → lin
• ŝi → ŝin
• ĝi → ĝin
• ili → ilin

So lavas ĝin means washes it, with ĝin receiving the action.

Usually no. If the second verb also has the cup as its object, Esperanto normally needs that object to be expressed somehow.

This sentence does that with ĝin, which is very natural:

• mi malplenigas la tason kaj lavas ĝin tuj

Another possible structure is to put the object after both verbs:

• mi malplenigas kaj lavas la tason

But that can sound slightly different, because it groups both actions together before naming the object. The original version is very clear and natural.

Tuj is an adverb meaning immediately / right away.

Its position is fairly flexible in Esperanto, but placing it at the end is very natural:

• lavas ĝin tuj

This puts a little emphasis on the immediacy of the washing. You could also see other placements in other sentences, but the version here is completely normal.

Not as rigidly as in English. Esperanto allows more flexibility because the -n ending marks the direct object.

Still, this sentence uses a very neutral and easy-to-understand order:

• time phrase: Post la vespermanĝo
• subject: mi
• verbs and objects: malplenigas la tason kaj lavas ĝin tuj

So while Esperanto can move things around more than English, this word order is the most straightforward for learners.

Normally Esperanto keeps the subject pronoun.

So you usually say:

• mi lavas
• li venas
• ili manĝas

Unlike Spanish or Italian, Esperanto does not normally drop subject pronouns just because the verb ending already shows the person. So mi is expected here.