Learn Hardcore Japanese: kanozyo ha yogoreta koppu to huraipan wo aratte kara, yukkuri otya wo nonda. - After washing the dirty cup and frying pan, she leisurely drank tea.

If you used 彼女が, it would more strongly mark 彼女 as the grammatical subject, often with a nuance like “she (as opposed to someone else) washed the cup and pan and then drank tea.”
In a neutral narration like this, 彼女は is more natural, because the focus is on what she did, not on contrasting her with others.

Why is it 汚れたコップ and not something like 汚れているコップ? Doesn’t ～た mean past tense?

In Japanese, a verb in the ～た form in front of a noun often works like a relative clause, describing the noun.

汚れたコップ literally: “a cup that got dirty / has become dirty”
汚れているコップ: “a cup that is (currently) dirty”

In everyday usage, 汚れたコップ usually just means “a dirty cup”, focusing slightly more on the resulting state of having become dirty.
汚れているコップ emphasizes the ongoing state of being dirty. In many contexts, though, they are close in meaning, and 汚れたコップ is very natural here.

What is the nuance difference between コップ and other words like グラス or カップ?

コップ: a generic cup for drinking (often glass or plastic; can be used broadly).
グラス: usually a glass drinking vessel (wine glass, water glass, etc.).
カップ: often a cup with a handle, especially for hot drinks (like a teacup or coffee cup).

In this sentence, コップ is just a regular cup; the choice doesn’t add any special nuance beyond that.

Why is と used between コップ and フライパン? What does コップとフライパンを mean exactly?

と here means “and”, connecting two nouns:

コップとフライパンを洗って
→ “(she) washed the cup and the frying pan”

When you list multiple objects that share the same particle, Japanese usually:

Connects the nouns with と, and
Puts the particle once at the end of the list.

So コップとフライパンを literally is “(the) cup and (the) frying pan + を” → “wash the cup and the frying pan.”

Why is there only one を after コップとフライパン and not one after each noun?

In Japanese, multiple nouns that play the same grammatical role usually share a single particle:

コップとフライパンを洗う
→ both コップ and フライパン are direct objects of 洗う, so they share を.
Saying コップをフライパンを洗う is unnatural.

This pattern is very common:

本とノートを買った – “I bought a book and a notebook.”
兄と姉が来た – “My older brother and sister came.”

What does ～てから mean in 洗ってから? How is it different from just 洗って?

～てから means “after doing X”, emphasizing the order of actions.

洗ってから、ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ。
→ “After washing (them), she slowly drank tea.”

If you only say 洗って、ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ, it can also mean she washed and then drank, but ～てから makes the sequence and the idea of doing one thing after completing the other more explicit.

So 洗ってから is “once she had washed (them), then…”, with a clearer sense of step 1 → step 2.

Why is 洗って in the て-form, but 飲んだ is in the past ～た form? Isn’t that inconsistent?

In Japanese, when you chain actions, only the last verb shows the tense:

洗ってから、ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ。
→ The entire sequence is in the past because 飲んだ is past.

The て-form (洗って) here doesn’t mark tense by itself; it just connects to から (“after”) and links it to the main verb.
So the structure is:

[洗ってから] → [飲んだ] (past)
= “After washing (them), she drank (tea).”

What is ゆっくり doing grammatically? Why doesn’t it have a particle?

ゆっくり is an adverb, meaning “slowly” or “leisurely”.
Adverbs in Japanese (like in English) do not usually take particles.

Here, it modifies the verb phrase お茶を飲んだ:

ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ
→ “(She) drank tea slowly / leisurely.”

You could also say ゆっくりとお茶を飲んだ; adding と is possible with some adverbs but not required, and ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ is completely natural.

Does ゆっくり modify the washing or the drinking? How do we know?

In Japanese, an adverb usually modifies what comes right after it.

洗ってから、ゆっくりお茶を飲んだ。

Here, ゆっくり comes directly before お茶を飲んだ, so it modifies the drinking.
If you wanted to clearly modify the washing, you’d say something like:

コップとフライパンをゆっくり洗ってから、お茶を飲んだ。
→ “After slowly washing the cup and pan, she drank tea.”

Why is お茶 written with お at the front? What does the お do?

The お in お茶 is an honorific / polite prefix.

茶 by itself means “tea,” but in real modern Japanese, people almost always say お茶.

The お adds a sense of politeness or softness, but in this case, お茶 is basically just the normal word for “tea.”
You’ll see this with many common items:

水 → お水 (water)
酒 → お酒 (alcohol / sake)

In casual speech among friends, some people might say just 茶, but お茶 is standard and natural.