Zuerst lese ich den Artikel, danach speichere ich das PDF, und zuletzt schreibe ich eine kurze Notiz.

Because German main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule.

That means:

• the finite verb must be in the second position
• whatever comes first can be a subject, time word, object, etc.

So in:

• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel

the first position is taken by Zuerst, so the verb lese must come next, and the subject ich comes after it.

Compare:

• Ich lese zuerst den Artikel.
• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel.

Both are correct, but the emphasis is slightly different.

They are sequencing words used to show order.

• zuerst = first / first of all
• danach = afterward / after that / then
• zuletzt = lastly / finally

In this sentence, they organize the actions step by step:

1. read the article
2. save the PDF
3. write a short note

A small nuance:

• zuerst strongly marks the beginning
• danach connects one action to the next
• zuletzt marks the final action in the sequence

Again, this is because of the verb-second rule.

Each part is a main clause:

• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel
• danach speichere ich das PDF
• zuletzt schreibe ich eine kurze Notiz

In each clause, the time/sequencing word comes first, so the verb comes second and ich comes third.

If you put ich first, that is also possible:

• Ich lese zuerst den Artikel, speichere danach das PDF und schreibe zuletzt eine kurze Notiz.

That version sounds a bit more compact.

Because Artikel is the direct object of lese, so it is in the accusative case.

The noun Artikel is masculine:

• nominative: der Artikel
• accusative: den Artikel

So:

• der Artikel = the article, when it is the subject
• den Artikel = the article, when it is the direct object

Here, I am doing the reading, and the article is what I read, so it must be den Artikel.

This is also an accusative direct object, because it is what I write.

The noun Notiz is feminine:

• nominative: eine kurze Notiz
• accusative: eine kurze Notiz

For feminine nouns, the indefinite article eine stays the same in nominative and accusative, so you do not see a change here.

Also:

• kurze is the adjective ending that matches eine ... Notiz

So:

• ich schreibe eine kurze Notiz = I write a short note

In standard German, PDF is usually treated as neuter:

• das PDF

That is why the sentence says:

• ich speichere das PDF

German often assigns grammatical gender to abbreviations based on how they are understood or on the gender that has become conventional.

In everyday use, das PDF is the normal form learners should use.

German very often uses the present tense to talk about:

• habitual actions
• scheduled actions
• steps in a process
• near-future actions

So:

• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel, danach speichere ich das PDF ...

can naturally describe a sequence of actions, even if they are about to happen.

German does have a future tense with werden, but it is often unnecessary:

• Zuerst werde ich den Artikel lesen ...

This is grammatical, but usually less natural unless you specifically want to stress futurity.

The commas separate the three coordinated main clauses:

• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel,
• danach speichere ich das PDF,
• und zuletzt schreibe ich eine kurze Notiz.

In German, commas are commonly used to separate independent clauses in a sequence, especially when the sentence would otherwise become hard to read.

The comma before und is acceptable here because it separates full clauses and improves clarity. In simpler coordination, German often omits a comma before und, but with longer clauses like this, the punctuation is very natural.

No. Und is a coordinating conjunction, so it does not force the verb to go to the end.

That is why the last clause is:

• und zuletzt schreibe ich eine kurze Notiz

Inside that clause, the normal main-clause rule still applies:

• first position: zuletzt
• second position: schreibe
• then: ich

Compare this with subordinating conjunctions like weil or dass, which do send the verb to the end:

• ..., weil ich zuletzt eine kurze Notiz schreibe.

Yes, very often you can.

For example:

• Zuerst lese ich den Artikel, dann speichere ich das PDF ...

This is perfectly natural.

The difference is small:

• dann = then
• danach = after that

Danach can sound a little more explicitly sequential, but in many everyday contexts they are interchangeable.

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized.

So in this sentence:

• Artikel
• PDF
• Notiz

are capitalized because they are nouns.

This is a standard rule in German spelling and one of the first things learners notice.

Yes. The sentence is already correct and natural, but German often allows a more compact style by using one subject for the whole sequence.

For example:

• Ich lese zuerst den Artikel, speichere danach das PDF und schreibe zuletzt eine kurze Notiz.

This sounds very natural too.

The original version repeats the full clause each time, which makes the order of actions especially clear. That can be useful in instructions, descriptions of workflows, or learner examples.