Meine Kollegin speichert die Datei zuerst in der Cloud, danach synchronisieren wir unsere Ordner.

Because Kollegin is a feminine noun in German.

The possessive word mein- changes its ending depending on the gender, case, and number of the noun that follows it.

Here, Kollegin is:

• feminine
• singular
• in the nominative case, because she is the subject of the verb

So the correct form is meine Kollegin.

Compare:

• mein Kollege = my male colleague
• meine Kollegin = my female colleague

The ending -in often marks a female person in German.

So:

• der Kollege = the male colleague
• die Kollegin = the female colleague

The plural is:

• die Kollegen = male colleagues / mixed group
• die Kolleginnen = female colleagues

So Kollegin specifically tells you the colleague is female.

Because Datei is a feminine noun, and here it is in the accusative case as the direct object of speichern.

The verb speichern takes a direct object: you store something.
That something here is die Datei.

For feminine singular nouns, the definite article is:

• nominative: die
• accusative: die

So the article does not change here.

Because the subject is meine Kollegin, which is third person singular: she.

The verb speichern is the infinitive. In a normal present-tense sentence, German conjugates the verb.

Present tense of speichern:

• ich speichere
• du speicherst
• er/sie/es speichert
• wir speichern
• ihr speichert
• sie/Sie speichern

So:

• Meine Kollegin speichert ... = My colleague stores ...

In the second clause, the subject is wir, so the verb becomes synchronisieren:

• ... danach synchronisieren wir ...

Because zuerst is an adverb meaning first or first of all, and it is modifying the action speichert.

German adverbs are fairly flexible, but some positions sound more natural than others.
Here, zuerst comes before the prepositional phrase in der Cloud, which is very natural:

• Meine Kollegin speichert die Datei zuerst in der Cloud.

This suggests the order of actions:

1. first, she stores the file in the cloud
2. afterwards, we synchronize our folders

You could also hear other word orders in different contexts, but this one is very standard.

Because here in describes a location, not a movement toward a destination.

German two-way prepositions such as in can take:

• dative for location
• accusative for direction/movement

Here the idea is roughly stored in the cloud, so German uses the dative:

• in der Cloud

Compare:

• Die Datei ist in der Cloud. = The file is in the cloud.
• Sie lädt die Datei in die Cloud hoch. = She uploads the file into the cloud.

So:

• in der Cloud = in the cloud, as a location
• in die Cloud = into the cloud, emphasizing movement/direction

In standard German, die Cloud is usually treated as a feminine noun.

Loanwords in German are assigned a grammatical gender, and with tech words this is sometimes based on usage rather than strict logic. In practice, die Cloud is the normal form.

So you say:

• die Cloud
• in der Cloud
• aus der Cloud

Even if the English word has no grammatical gender, German still requires one.

Because the sentence contains two main clauses, and in German, two independent main clauses are usually separated by a comma.

The two clauses are:

1. Meine Kollegin speichert die Datei zuerst in der Cloud
2. danach synchronisieren wir unsere Ordner

Each clause has its own finite verb:

• speichert
• synchronisieren

So the comma is correct and natural.

Because German main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

That means the finite verb must come in the second position in the clause.

In this clause, danach is placed first:

• Danach = first position

So the verb must come immediately after it:

• Danach synchronisieren wir unsere Ordner.

The subject wir comes after the verb.

This is very common in German:

• Heute gehe ich nach Hause.
• Dann machen wir weiter.
• Danach synchronisieren wir unsere Ordner.

So when something other than the subject comes first, the verb still stays in second position.

Because unsere already functions as the determiner, so you do not add die in front of it.

In German, possessive words like:

• mein
• dein
• unser
• ihr

often take the place of an article.

So:

• unsere Ordner = our folders

Not:

• die unsere Ordner

That would be incorrect in this kind of sentence.

Because Ordner here is plural, and it is the direct object of synchronisieren.

The noun is:

• der Ordner = folder
• plural: die Ordner

With the possessive unser- in the accusative plural, the correct form is unsere:

• nominative plural: unsere Ordner
• accusative plural: unsere Ordner

So the form stays unsere.

By contrast, unseren would be used for:

• masculine accusative singular: unseren Ordner = our folder
• or dative plural in some contexts: mit unseren Ordnern

But here we need accusative plural, so unsere Ordner is correct.

Danach means after that or afterwards.

In this sentence, it clearly connects the second action to the first one:

• first she stores the file
• after that, we synchronize our folders

Dann often means then, and in many contexts it can sound similar. But danach more explicitly refers back to a previous action or event.

So:

• danach = after that / afterwards
• dann = then

In this sentence, danach is a very good choice because the sequence of actions is important.

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized.

So in this sentence:

• Kollegin
• Datei
• Cloud
• Ordner

are all written with a capital letter.

This is one of the most noticeable differences from English, where only proper nouns are normally capitalized.

Yes, that is also possible.

German often allows more than one word order, especially with adverbs like danach. The difference is usually one of emphasis rather than basic meaning.

Compare:

• Danach synchronisieren wir unsere Ordner.
• Wir synchronisieren danach unsere Ordner.

The first version puts more focus on the sequence: after that.
The second version starts more neutrally with the subject wir.

Both are grammatical. The original sentence sounds very natural because it highlights the order of events clearly.