Metto i piatti puliti nello scolapiatti prima di asciugarli.

Metto means I put or I place.

It is the 1st person singular, present indicative of mettere (to put / to place):

• io metto = I put
• tu metti = you put
• lui/lei mette = he/she puts

So the sentence is being said from the speaker’s point of view: I put...

Italian uses definite articles much more often than English.

So i piatti literally means the plates, but in English we might naturally just say plates depending on context.

Here, i piatti refers to a specific set of plates already understood in the situation, so the article is completely normal.

• i = the for masculine plural nouns
• piatti = plates

Singular and plural:

• il piatto = the plate
• i piatti = the plates

In Italian, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• piatti puliti = clean plates

This is the most neutral and natural order here.

If an adjective comes before the noun, it can sometimes sound more literary, emphatic, or slightly different in meaning, but with puliti, the normal everyday order is definitely:

• i piatti puliti

Because it has to agree with piatti.

In Italian, adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number

Piatto is masculine singular, so:

• piatto pulito = clean plate

Piatti is masculine plural, so:

• piatti puliti = clean plates

That is why you get puliti, not pulito.

Nello means in the.

It is a contraction of:

• in + lo = nello

Italian often combines prepositions with definite articles.

Here are some common examples:

• in + il = nel
• in + lo = nello
• in + la = nella
• in + i = nei
• in + gli = negli
• in + le = nelle

So nello scolapiatti = in the dish rack / dish drainer

Because scolapiatti takes the article lo.

Italian uses lo before masculine singular nouns beginning with:

• s + consonant (like sc, sp, st)
• z
• ps
• gn
• some words beginning with y or x

Since scolapiatti begins with sc-, it takes lo:

• lo scolapiatti

And with in:

• in + lo scolapiatti = nello scolapiatti

Scolapiatti is the thing where dishes are left to drain after washing. In English this is often dish rack, draining rack, or dish drainer.

The word is made from:

• scolare = to drain
• piatti = plates

So literally it is something like plate-drainer, though English uses different wording.

Even though piatti is plural inside the word, scolapiatti itself is treated as a singular noun here:

• lo scolapiatti = the dish rack

Because after prima (before), Italian often uses di + infinitive when the subject stays the same.

So:

• prima di asciugarli = before drying them

This structure is very common:

• prima di mangiare = before eating
• prima di uscire = before going out
• prima di dormire = before sleeping

In your sentence, the person who puts the plates in the rack is also the person who dries them, so prima di + infinitive is the natural pattern.

-li means them.

It is a direct object pronoun attached to the infinitive asciugare (to dry):

• asciugare = to dry
• asciugarli = to dry them

Here, li refers back to i piatti.

So:

• prima di asciugarli = before drying them

This is very common in Italian. Pronouns can attach to infinitives:

• vederli = to see them
• lavarlo = to wash it
• mangiarla = to eat it

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct:

• prima di asciugarli
• prima di asciugare i piatti

The version with -li is more compact because it avoids repeating i piatti.

So the difference is mainly stylistic:

• prima di asciugare i piatti = before drying the plates
• prima di asciugarli = before drying them

Since i piatti was already mentioned, using -li sounds very natural.

In standard Italian, object pronouns are normally attached to the end of an infinitive.

So you get:

• asciugarli = to dry them
• metterlo = to put it
• lavarli = to wash them

This is the normal rule with infinitives.

You may also see separate pronouns with some conjugated verbs, for example:

• li asciugo = I dry them

But with a plain infinitive, attachment is the usual form:

• asciugarli, not li asciugare

The sentence follows a very typical Italian order:

• Metto = verb
• i piatti puliti = direct object
• nello scolapiatti = place
• prima di asciugarli = time/sequence phrase

So literally:

I put the clean plates in the dish rack before drying them.

Italian word order is flexible, but this version sounds very natural and neutral.

Yes. Grammatically, puliti describes piatti, so it means the clean plates.

The sentence presents them as already clean, and then says they are put in the rack before being dried.

So the sequence is:

1. the plates are clean
2. I put them in the dish rack
3. I dry them afterward

Whether that is the most practical real-life sequence is a separate question, but grammatically that is what the sentence says.

Yes. In everyday Italian, asciugare can mean:

• to dry
• to make dry
• to wipe dry
• to towel dry

So with dishes, asciugarli would usually be understood as drying/wiping them dry after washing.

The exact English wording depends on context, but the Italian verb works well for all of those ideas.

You would need to change the noun, article, adjective, and pronoun:

• Metto il piatto pulito nello scolapiatti prima di asciugarlo.

Changes:

• i piatti → il piatto
• puliti → pulito
• asciugarli → asciugarlo

Because piatto is masculine singular, the pronoun becomes lo (it).