Clătește bine vasele, altfel rămâne săpun pe ele.

Clătește is the affirmative imperative form for you (singular, informal): Rinse!

In Romanian, for many verbs, the positive singular imperative looks the same as the 3rd person singular present form:

• el/ea clătește = he/she rinses
• Clătește! = Rinse!

By contrast, clătești is the 2nd person singular present indicative:

• tu clătești = you rinse / you are rinsing

So in this sentence, Clătește bine vasele means Rinse the dishes well.

If you are speaking to more than one person or using the formal form, you would say:

• Clătiți bine vasele, altfel rămâne săpun pe ele.

So:

• clătește = singular informal
• clătiți = plural or formal

This is very common in Romanian commands.

This is just part of how the verb is conjugated.

The infinitive is:

• a clăti = to rinse

But in the present tense and in the affirmative imperative, the stem changes:

• eu clătesc
• tu clătești
• el/ea clătește

So clătește is not irregular in a surprising way; it is simply the normal conjugated form of a clăti.

Vasele means the dishes. The ending -le is the definite article attached to the noun.

• vase = dishes
• vasele = the dishes

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the in English.

So:

• Spal vase. = I wash dishes.
• Spal vasele. = I wash the dishes.

In your sentence, the speaker means specific dishes, so vasele is natural.

Yes, vas can mean vessel, container, or dish, depending on context.

In household contexts, especially with washing and rinsing, vase often means dishes in general: plates, bowls, cups, and similar items.

So in this sentence, vasele is best understood as the dishes.

Altfel means otherwise or if not.

It introduces a consequence:

• Clătește bine vasele, altfel rămâne săpun pe ele.
• Rinse the dishes well, otherwise soap remains on them.

It is a very common word in warnings and instructions.

Other examples:

• Grăbește-te, altfel întârzii. = Hurry up, otherwise you'll be late.
• Învață, altfel pici examenul. = Study, otherwise you'll fail the exam.

The comma separates the command from the consequence:

• Clătește bine vasele, altfel rămâne săpun pe ele.

This is normal punctuation in Romanian, just as in English with otherwise.

Romanian often uses the present tense to express a general result or likely consequence, especially after a command or warning.

So:

• rămâne = remains / will remain / gets left

In English, we often prefer will remain or soap will be left on them, but Romanian does not always need an explicit future form here.

Both the idea of a present general truth and a future consequence can be expressed with the present tense in this kind of sentence.

Because săpun is treated here as a mass noun, like soap in English.

• săpun = soap

Since it is singular as a mass substance, the verb is singular too:

• rămâne săpun = soap remains / soap is left

If you had a plural count noun, then the verb would be plural.

Because this means soap in general, not the soap as a specific identified item.

Compare:

• rămâne săpun pe ele = soap remains on them
• rămâne săpunul pe ele = the soap remains on them

In this sentence, the idea is simply that some soap residue is left behind, so the bare noun săpun is the natural choice.

Literally, a rămâne means to remain, to stay, or to be left.

In this sentence, the most natural English idea is:

• soap remains on them
• soap gets left on them
• there will still be soap on them

So it is not just a dictionary meaning of remain in a formal sense; it is a very everyday Romanian way to express that something is still there after an action was not done properly.

Here pe is a normal preposition meaning on in this context.

• pe ele = on them

So:

• rămâne săpun pe ele = soap remains on them

Yes, pe is also used in other grammar situations, especially with animate direct objects, but that is a different use.

In this sentence, it is simply the preposition required to express soap being on the surface of the dishes.

Romanian grammatical gender does not depend on whether something is animate.

Vas is a neuter noun. In Romanian, neuter nouns behave:

• like masculine in the singular
• like feminine in the plural

So in the plural, pronouns referring to vase are feminine plural:

• ele = they / them

That is why vasele becomes pe ele, not pe ei.

Because le is a clitic pronoun used mainly for indirect objects or some direct object contexts, but not after a preposition like this.

After a preposition such as pe, Romanian uses the full stressed pronoun:

• pe ele = on them

So rămâne săpun pe ele is correct.

You cannot replace it with pe le.

That is the normal position for an adverb here:

• Clătește bine vasele. = Rinse the dishes well.

Romanian word order is fairly flexible, but verb + bine + object is very natural in instructions.

You may also hear slight variations for emphasis, but this version is standard and idiomatic.

Yes, a similar idea can be expressed with dacă nu:

• Clătește bine vasele, că dacă nu, rămâne săpun pe ele.

But altfel is shorter and cleaner in this kind of instruction. It sounds very natural in warnings, advice, and directions.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Clătește ≈ kluh-TESH-te
• bine ≈ BEE-neh
• vasele ≈ VAH-seh-leh
• altfel ≈ AHLT-fel
• rămâne ≈ ruh-MUH-neh
• săpun ≈ suh-POON
• pe ele ≈ peh EH-leh

A couple of useful sounds:

• ă is a short neutral vowel, like the a in about
• â is a deeper central vowel with no exact English equivalent
• ș is sh

So clătește and rămâne are the two words that usually need the most practice.