Je nettoie la table avec un chiffon humide pour enlever la tache de café.

Je nettoie is in the present tense.

In French, the present tense can often translate as either:

• I clean
• I am cleaning

So without extra context, je nettoie la table can mean either a general present action or something happening right now.

The verb is nettoyer = to clean.

This comes from the way -yer verbs are often spelled in the present tense.

The infinitive is nettoyer, but in forms like je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles, the y usually changes to i:

• je nettoie
• tu nettoies
• il nettoie
• ils nettoient

But:

• nous nettoyons
• vous nettoyez

So je nettoie is the normal spelling.

French usually requires an article before nouns much more often than English does.

Here, la table means the table:

• la = the for a feminine singular noun
• table is feminine

So je nettoie la table is the natural French way to say I am cleaning the table.

French generally does not say je nettoie table.

Avec means with, and here it introduces the tool used to do the action.

So:

• avec = with
• un chiffon = a cloth
• humide = damp / wet

Together, avec un chiffon humide means with a damp cloth.

This is a very common French pattern:

• couper avec un couteau = to cut with a knife
• écrire avec un stylo = to write with a pen

In French, many adjectives come after the noun.

So:

• un chiffon humide = a damp cloth
• literally: a cloth damp

That word order is normal in French.

Some common adjectives do come before the noun, but many descriptive ones, especially ones like color, shape, or physical quality, often come after:

• une table ronde = a round table
• un mur blanc = a white wall
• un chiffon humide = a damp cloth

Because chiffon is a masculine noun.

In French, nouns have grammatical gender, so the article has to match:

• un for masculine singular nouns
• une for feminine singular nouns

So:

• un chiffon
• une table

The gender usually has to be learned with the noun.

Pour + infinitive is a very common way to express purpose in French.

So:

• pour = to / in order to / for the purpose of
• enlever = to remove

pour enlever la tache de café means:

• to remove the coffee stain
• or in order to remove the coffee stain

French uses the infinitive here because it works like English to remove.

Examples:

• Je viens pour aider. = I’m coming to help.
• Elle ouvre la fenêtre pour respirer. = She opens the window to breathe.

De café here describes the type or source of the stain: it is a coffee stain.

So:

• une tache de café = a coffee stain
• literally: a stain of coffee

Using de like this is very common in French to connect one noun to another:

• une tasse de thé = a cup of tea
• une table de bois = a wooden table / a table made of wood
• une tache de café = a coffee stain

If you said du café, that would usually sound more like some coffee or of the coffee, which is not the normal way to name this kind of stain.

No. They are different words.

• tache = stain, spot, mark
• tâche = task, job, assignment

So in this sentence, la tache de café means the coffee stain.

This is a very important spelling difference because the meanings are completely different.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

zhuh neh-TWAH luh tahbl ah-VEK uh(n) shee-FON ew-MEED poor ahn-luh-VAY lah tash duh ka-FAY

A few helpful pronunciation notes:

• Je sounds like zhuh
• nettoie sounds roughly like neh-twah
• ch in chiffon sounds like sh
• humide has a silent h, so it sounds like u-meed
• enlever ends with the -er sound pronounced like ay
• café is pronounced ka-fay

You do not need to pronounce every final consonant strongly:

• table ends softly
• chiffon has a nasal ending
• tache ends with a clear sh sound

Mostly yes, but not perfectly.

A very close breakdown is:

• Je = I
• nettoie = clean / am cleaning
• la table = the table
• avec = with
• un chiffon humide = a damp cloth
• pour enlever = to remove
• la tache de café = the coffee stain

So the structure is very close to English, which makes this sentence fairly beginner-friendly.

The main things that feel different from English are:

• adjective placement: chiffon humide
• the pour + infinitive structure
• de café for coffee stain