Après avoir utilisé la pelle, je passe le râteau pour enlever les feuilles près du rosier.

Because French often uses après + infinitive in the past to mean after doing something.

So:

• après utiliser = not correct here
• après avoir utilisé = after having used / more naturally in English, after using

This structure is built with:

• après
• avoir or être in the infinitive
• a past participle

Examples:

• Après avoir mangé, je pars. = After eating, I leave.
• Après être arrivé, il a appelé. = After arriving, he called.

Since utiliser takes avoir, you get après avoir utilisé.

You use the same auxiliary that the verb normally takes in compound tenses like the passé composé.

• utiliser → avoir utilisé
• aller → être allé
• arriver → être arrivé
• se lever → s’être levé

So because you say:

• j’ai utilisé

you also say:

• après avoir utilisé

Not:

• après être utilisé
  That would mean something different, more like after being used, which is passive.

French uses articles more consistently than English, especially with everyday objects and body parts.

Here, la pelle and le râteau sound natural because the speaker is talking about the tools being used in the situation. French often prefers the definite article where English might choose a or sometimes no article at all.

So:

• utiliser la pelle = use the shovel/spade
• passer le râteau = use the rake / rake with the rake

It does not necessarily mean there is only one shovel or one rake in the world. It just refers to the relevant tool in the context.

Literally, it means something like I pass the rake or I run the rake over.

In context, it means:

• I rake
• I go over it with the rake

This is a natural French way to describe using the rake on the ground.

So passer + tool/object can mean to run/use that tool over a surface.

Here:

• je passe le râteau = I rake / I use the rake over the area

It is more idiomatic than translating word-for-word into English.

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

So:

• pour enlever les feuilles = to remove the leaves / in order to remove the leaves

This works when the subject of both actions is the same:

• je passe le râteau
• j’enlève les feuilles

Since I am doing both actions, French uses pour + infinitive.

Yes. Both are possible, but they are not always identical in tone.

• enlever = very common, everyday, natural for remove/take away
• retirer = also means remove, sometimes a little more formal or deliberate

In a gardening sentence, enlever les feuilles sounds very natural.

So:

• pour enlever les feuilles = the most ordinary phrasing
• pour retirer les feuilles = also correct

Because de + le contracts to du in French.

So:

• près de + le rosier → près du rosier

This contraction is required.

Other common contractions:

• de + les → des
• à + le → au
• à + les → aux

Examples:

• près du jardin
• à côté des fleurs
• au parc

Près de means near or close to.

So:

• près du rosier = near the rosebush

À côté de means more specifically next to or beside.

That means:

• près du rosier = somewhere close to the rosebush
• à côté du rosier = right beside it

They are similar, but à côté de usually sounds more exact and closer.

No. Rosier means rosebush or rose plant, not the flower itself.

Compare:

• une rose = a rose, the flower
• un rosier = a rosebush / rose plant

So près du rosier means near the rosebush, not near the rose.

Je passe is the present tense of passer.

French present tense can be used for several ideas, including:

• a habitual action: I rake
• a simple present description: I am raking / I use the rake
• instructions or narrative present in some contexts

In this sentence, it sounds like a straightforward present description of what the speaker does after using the shovel.

The comma separates the introductory time phrase from the main clause.

Structure:

• Après avoir utilisé la pelle = introductory phrase (After using the shovel)
• je passe le râteau... = main clause

The comma makes the sentence easier to read. In French, this punctuation is very normal when a longer introductory phrase comes first.

Pelle can refer to a shovel or spade, depending on context.

In gardening contexts, English sometimes distinguishes:

• shovel = for scooping
• spade = for digging

French often just uses pelle more broadly, although more specific words can also be used in certain contexts.

So here, la pelle could reasonably be translated as either the shovel or the spade, depending on the tool being imagined.

Râteau is pronounced roughly like ra-toh.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

• ra as in father
• teau like toh

The â does not completely change the pronunciation for most learners in a dramatic way, but it is part of the correct spelling. The ending -eau is commonly pronounced oh.

So:

• râteau ≈ ra-toh

Yes, often you can.

• je ratisse = I rake
• je passe le râteau = I run the rake over / I rake with the rake

Both are correct. The version with passer le râteau emphasizes the action done with the tool itself. Ratisser is the more direct one-word verb for to rake.

So the sentence could also be expressed as:

• Après avoir utilisé la pelle, je ratisse pour enlever les feuilles près du rosier.

But the original wording is perfectly natural.