Ne punem șorțul înainte să frământăm lutul.

Ne punem means we put on.

• punem = we put
• ne = to ourselves / on ourselves

With clothes and wearable items, Romanian often uses this kind of pronominal construction:

• îmi pun haina = I put on my coat
• ne punem șorțul = we put on the apron

So ne is not optional here if you want the natural sense of put on ourselves.

Romanian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person.

Here:

• punem = we put
• frământăm = we knead

So even without noi, the meaning is clear. You could say Noi ne punem șorțul..., but it would usually add emphasis, like we are the ones who put on the apron...

Because -ul is the Romanian definite article attached to the end of the noun.

• șorț = apron
• șorțul = the apron

Romanian usually puts the at the end of the noun rather than as a separate word.

So:

• Ne punem șorțul = We put on the apron

In English, depending on context, you might translate this as the apron, an apron, or even our apron, but Romanian uses the definite form here very naturally.

This is very natural in Romanian. The singular can have a distributive meaning: each person puts on their own apron.

So:

• Ne punem șorțul = We each put on an apron / we put on our aprons

Romanian often uses the singular for body-related or personal items when each person has one. It does not necessarily mean there is only one apron for the whole group.

For the same reason as șorțul: -ul makes it definite.

• lut = clay
• lutul = the clay

Here it refers to the clay involved in the activity, so the definite form sounds natural:

• frământăm lutul = we knead the clay

Romanian often uses the definite form in practical, concrete contexts like instructions or descriptions of a known material.

Înainte să means before in the sense of before doing something / before we do something.

The pattern is:

• înainte să + verb

So:

• înainte să frământăm lutul = before we knead the clay

Romanian commonly uses să after înainte when the following clause has a verb of its own.

Yes. After înainte să, Romanian uses the subjunctive.

So:

• să frământăm = that we knead / for us to knead, but in this sentence simply before we knead

A useful thing to know: in many verbs, the 1st person plural subjunctive looks exactly like the 1st person plural present indicative.

Here:

• frământăm can mean we knead
• after să, it is understood as subjunctive: să frământăm

The word să is what tells you the mood.

Yes, absolutely.

These are both natural:

• Ne punem șorțul înainte să frământăm lutul.
• Ne punem șorțul înainte de a frământa lutul.

The difference is mostly structural:

• înainte să frământăm = before we knead
• înainte de a frământa = before kneading / before to knead

The original version is very common and straightforward, especially when the subject is clearly we.

A frământa means to knead.

It is often used for:

• dough
• clay
• other soft material worked by pressing and shaping

So frământăm lutul is perfectly natural and means we knead/work the clay.

Because short pronouns like ne usually go before the conjugated verb.

So:

• ne punem = correct
• punem ne = not correct

The usual order here is:

• clitic pronoun + verb + object

So:

• Ne punem șorțul = We put on the apron

The main ones here are:

• ș as in ship
  • șorțul
• ț as ts in cats
  • șorțul
• ă is a short neutral vowel, somewhat like the a in about
  • să
• â is a central vowel that English does not really have; learners often approximate it with a deeper, tighter uh
  • frământăm
  • înainte

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Ne punem ≈ neh POO-nem
• șorțul ≈ SHORTS-ul (but with a shorter vowel)
• înainte ≈ uh-nah-EEN-te
• să ≈ suh
• frământăm ≈ fruh-mun-TUM
• lutul ≈ LOO-tool

These are only approximations, but they can help at the start.