J’ai encore de la boue sur le talon gauche, alors je nettoie mes chaussures dehors.

Because je becomes j’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

• je ai is not used
• j’ai is the correct form
• It means I have

This happens often in French:

• j’aime = I like / I love
• j’habite = I live
• j’écoute = I listen

Here, encore means still.

So J’ai encore de la boue... means I still have mud...

Depending on context, encore can also mean:

• again
• more

But in this sentence, still is the natural meaning.

French usually needs an article before a noun. Here boue is an uncountable substance, so French uses the partitive article:

• de la boue = some mud

This is similar to:

• de l’eau = some water
• du sable = some sand
• de la poussière = some dust

So j’ai de la boue literally means I have some mud.

Because boue is:

• feminine
• singular
• an uncountable substance

The partitive article for a feminine singular noun is de la.

Compare:

• du pain = some bread
• de la boue = some mud
• de l’eau = some water

French often uses the definite article (le, la, les) where English uses a possessive like my or your, especially when the owner is already clear from context.

So:

• sur le talon gauche literally = on the left heel
• natural English = on my left heel / on the left heel

French prefers le here because the heel being referred to is understood from the situation.

That said, sur mon talon gauche is also possible if you want to emphasize that it is my heel.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• le talon = heel

In this sentence, because the speaker then says je nettoie mes chaussures, many learners will understand talon as referring to the heel area connected with the shoes. But grammatically, the word itself can refer to:

• the heel of your foot
• the heel of a shoe

Context tells you which one is meant.

In French, most adjectives come after the noun.

So:

• le talon gauche = the left heel
• les chaussures noires = the black shoes
• une maison blanche = a white house

English usually puts adjectives before the noun, but French often puts them after.

Alors here means so, therefore, or as a result.

It links the two ideas:

• I still have mud on the left heel
• so I’m cleaning my shoes outside

It shows a consequence.

Other possible connectors in similar sentences could be:

• donc = so / therefore
• du coup = so / as a result (more informal)

But alors works very naturally here.

French often uses the simple present tense where English uses either:

• I clean
• or I am cleaning

So je nettoie can mean:

• I clean
• I am cleaning

In this sentence, the context makes I’m cleaning the best English translation.

French does have a way to stress an action in progress:

• je suis en train de nettoyer = I am in the middle of cleaning / I am cleaning right now

But that is more explicit and not necessary here.

Because here French chooses to make the possession explicit:

• mes chaussures = my shoes

This is very natural because shoes are personal belongings. French could sometimes use les chaussures in a context where ownership is already obvious, but mes chaussures is the normal and clear choice here.

Because a pair of shoes is normally treated as two shoes in French, just as in English.

• une chaussure = one shoe
• des chaussures = shoes
• mes chaussures = my shoes

Even if English says a pair of shoes, French often simply says des chaussures.

Both can mean outside, but they are used a bit differently.

• dehors is very common and natural in everyday speech
• à l’extérieur is a little more formal or descriptive

In this sentence:

• je nettoie mes chaussures dehors = I clean my shoes outside

That sounds very normal in spoken and written everyday French.

French often puts adverbs of place like dehors after the main verb phrase.

So:

• je nettoie mes chaussures dehors

This word order is very natural. English can also put outside at the end, so this part matches English fairly well.

Nettoie is pronounced roughly like neh-TWAH.

A few helpful points:

• the tt is pronounced as a normal t
• oi is usually pronounced wah
• the final e is not pronounced

So:

• je nettoie ≈ zhuh neh-TWAH

Yes. The n at the end of talon is normally not pronounced as a full n sound; it helps make the vowel nasal:

• talon ≈ ta-lon with a nasal vowel

Also, gauche is pronounced roughly gohsh.

So:

• le talon gauche ≈ luh ta-lon gohsh

There is no major required liaison here between talon and gauche.

Yes. That is correct.

• Je nettoie mes chaussures dehors = very natural, everyday
• Je nettoie mes chaussures à l’extérieur = also correct, slightly more formal or more explicit

Both mean essentially the same thing in this context.