Spengo il fornello dopo aver finito di cuocere la pasta.

Spengo is the first-person singular present tense of spegnere (to turn off, to switch off, to extinguish).

So it means I turn off or I am turning off, depending on context.

Italian often uses the present tense where English might use either:

• a habitual present: I turn off the burner after...
• an immediate/action present: I’m turning off the burner after...

Il fornello usually means the burner or the hob ring on a stove.

It does not usually mean:

• forno = oven
• cucina = kitchen, or sometimes stove/cooker depending on context

So in this sentence, fornello is the part of the stove that heats the pot.

Because fornello is a masculine singular noun.

That gives:

• il fornello = the burner

If it were plural, it would be:

• i fornelli = the burners

A learner may wonder about lo, but lo is used before certain masculine singular nouns beginning with sounds like z, s + consonant, gn, ps, etc. Since fornello begins with a normal f sound, it takes il.

This is a very common Italian structure.

After dopo, Italian can use:

• dopo + noun: dopo cena
• dopo che + verb: dopo che ho finito
• dopo + infinitive perfect: dopo aver finito

Here, dopo aver finito literally means after having finished.

It is a compact way to say that one action happens after another one has been completed.

In this structure, Italian normally uses the shortened form:

• aver + past participle
• esser + past participle

So:

• aver finito
• aver mangiato
• esser andato

This is especially common in written and standard spoken Italian after prepositions like dopo.

Because the verb finire normally uses avere in compound tenses:

• ho finito
• avevo finito
• dopo aver finito

So the sentence follows that same pattern.

In other words:

• finire → auxiliary avere
• therefore aver finito

Because finire is commonly followed by di + infinitive when it means to finish doing something.

So:

• finire di cuocere = to finish cooking
• finire di mangiare = to finish eating
• finire di leggere = to finish reading

This is a pattern worth memorizing:

finire di + infinitive

Both can relate to cooking, but they are not exactly the same.

• cuocere = to cook in the sense of applying heat, boiling, baking, roasting, etc.
• cucinare = to cook in the broader sense of preparing food

In this sentence, cuocere la pasta is very natural because pasta is being cooked/boiled.

You could hear cucinare la pasta, but cuocere is more specific to the actual cooking process.

Italian uses the definite article much more often than English does.

So la pasta here sounds normal and natural. It refers to the pasta being cooked.

English often drops the article in cases like cook pasta, but Italian usually keeps it:

• cuocere la pasta
• mangiare la pizza
• lavare i piatti

Leaving out the article here would sound unnatural in ordinary Italian.

Yes. That is an important grammar point.

In a sentence like this, the subject of:

• spengo = I turn off and the understood subject of:
• aver finito = having finished

is normally the same person.

So the sentence naturally means: I turn off the burner after I have finished cooking the pasta.

If the subject were different, Italian would usually make that clearer with a full clause, for example:

• Spengo il fornello dopo che mia sorella ha finito di cuocere la pasta.

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible.

For example, you could also say:

Dopo aver finito di cuocere la pasta, spengo il fornello.

This means the same thing. The difference is mostly about emphasis and rhythm:

• Spengo il fornello... starts with the main action.
• Dopo aver finito... starts with the time sequence/background.

Both are correct and natural.

Yes, absolutely.

You can say:

• Spengo il fornello dopo aver finito di cuocere la pasta.
• Spengo il fornello dopo che ho finito di cuocere la pasta.

Both are correct.

The version with dopo aver finito is a bit more compact and slightly more formal/structured.
The version with dopo che ho finito feels more explicit and can sound a bit more conversational.