Après le dîner, je jette les restes à la poubelle.

French often uses an article where English would not.

So après le dîner is the most natural everyday way to say after dinner.

You may sometimes see expressions without an article in more fixed, literary, or older-style phrasing, but for normal modern French, après le dîner is what learners should use.

Here, dîner is a noun, meaning dinner.

You can tell because it comes after le:

• le dîner = the dinner / dinner

But dîner can also be a verb:

• Je vais dîner = I’m going to have dinner

So the spelling is the same, but the grammar tells you which one it is.

Not always in every French-speaking region.

In most of France today:

• petit-déjeuner = breakfast
• déjeuner = lunch
• dîner = dinner

But in some regions or older usage:

• déjeuner can mean breakfast
• dîner can mean lunch
• souper can mean dinner

For a learner, the sentence Après le dîner... will usually be understood as After dinner..., especially in standard modern French.

Because jeter is the infinitive form, meaning to throw.

After je, you need the conjugated form:

• jeter = to throw
• je jette = I throw

This verb has a spelling change in some forms:

• je jette
• tu jettes
• il/elle jette
• ils/elles jettent

But:

• nous jetons
• vous jetez

So je jette is the correct present-tense form.

This is a common French spelling pattern.

In forms where the ending is not strongly pronounced, the stem changes to keep the pronunciation consistent:

• jeter
• je jette

The e changes to è, and the t doubles.

This helps preserve the sound. Many learners simply memorize the pattern:

• jeter → je jette
• acheter → j’achète

So yes, it looks irregular, but it follows a common type of French verb change.

Roughly like:

• je ≈ zhuh
• jette ≈ zhet

So: zhuh zhet

More exactly in IPA:

• je jette = /ʒə ʒɛt/

A few points:

• The j sound is the soft French sound like the s in measure
• The e in jette is open, like eh
• The final t in jette is pronounced

Because it refers to the specific leftovers from that meal.

• les restes = the leftovers
• des restes = some leftovers

In this sentence, the leftovers are already understood: they are the remains of the dinner just mentioned. So French naturally uses les.

In French, les restes is the usual way to say leftovers.

It is plural because it suggests the remaining bits of food after a meal.

Compare:

• les restes = leftovers
• le reste = the rest / the remainder

So if you are talking about food left after eating, les restes is the normal expression.

It means into the trash / in the trash / in the garbage can, depending on context.

With jeter, the expression jeter quelque chose à la poubelle means:

• to throw something in the trash
• to throw something away

It is a very common French expression.

You may also hear:

• À la poubelle ! = In the trash! / Throw it away!

Both can exist, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• jeter quelque chose à la poubelle is the usual idiomatic expression
• mettre quelque chose dans la poubelle focuses more literally on placing something inside the bin

So in this sentence, à la poubelle sounds the most natural because it matches the common French pattern with jeter.

You can think of it as a set phrase:

• jeter à la poubelle = throw in the trash / throw away

French uses articles more often than English does.

English often says:

• in trash
• at school
• after dinner

French usually prefers:

• à la poubelle
• à l’école
• après le dîner

So la is not unusual here. It is just normal French structure.

It is not absolutely necessary, but it is very natural.

Après le dîner is an introductory time expression, and French often separates that with a comma:

• Après le dîner, je jette les restes à la poubelle.

You could also write:

• Je jette les restes à la poubelle après le dîner.

Both are correct. The version with Après le dîner at the beginning slightly emphasizes the time.

The structure is:

• Après le dîner = time expression
• je = subject
• jette = verb
• les restes = direct object
• à la poubelle = complement showing where the leftovers are thrown

So literally, it is something like:

After dinner, I throw the leftovers to the trash can.

Natural English would usually be: After dinner, I throw the leftovers away or ...in the trash.

So the French structure is a little more literal than the most natural English translation.