Гончар вытянул стенки.

Гончар is a noun meaning potter. In this sentence it is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence — the person doing the action.

It is a masculine noun, which also matters because the verb form agrees with a masculine subject in the past tense.

In Russian, the past tense is usually formed with -л plus endings that show gender and number.

Here:

• вытянул = masculine singular past
• feminine would be вытянула
• neuter would be вытянуло
• plural would be вытянули

So вытянул tells you that the subject is masculine singular, which matches Гончар.

Literally, вытянуть often means something like pull out, stretch, or draw out. But in this pottery context, it means something like:

• pulled up the walls
• drew out the walls
• formed the walls by pulling them upward

So yes, the basic idea is related to pulling/stretching, but in craft vocabulary it refers to shaping the clay walls of the vessel.

In pottery, стенки refers to the walls/sides of the vessel. Russian often uses the plural here where English might say the wall of the pot or the walls depending on style.

So стенки is natural because a container is thought of as having walls/sides as a whole structure.

Стенка and стена are related, but they are not exactly the same in tone or usage.

• стена = wall
• стенка = wall/side, often a smaller, thinner, or more specific wall; very common for the wall of a vessel, organ, container, etc.

In technical or everyday Russian, стенки is the normal word for the sides/walls of many objects, including pottery.

So in this sentence, стенки sounds more natural than стены.

Here стенки is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of the verb вытянул.

For inanimate plural nouns, the accusative plural is usually the same as the nominative plural.

So:

• nominative plural: стенки
• accusative plural: стенки

That is why the form does not change.

Вытянуть is perfective. That means it presents the action as completed.

So Гончар вытянул стенки means the potter completed the action of pulling/forming the walls.

The imperfective partner is usually вытягивать. For example:

• Гончар вытягивал стенки = the potter was pulling/forming the walls, or did so repeatedly/process-wise

This aspect difference is very important in Russian:

• perfective = completed result
• imperfective = process, repetition, or ongoing action

Russian has no articles like a or the.

So Гончар вытянул стенки can mean:

• The potter pulled up the walls
• A potter pulled up the walls

Which one sounds best depends on the context. Russian leaves that to the situation rather than using articles.

This sentence uses a very neutral word order:

• Гончар = subject
• вытянул = verb
• стенки = object

So it is basically Subject–Verb–Object, which is often the most straightforward order.

Russian word order is flexible, though. For example, you could move words around for emphasis:

• Стенки гончар вытянул — emphasizes the walls
• Вытянул гончар стенки — more marked, often literary or context-driven

But the original order is the most neutral.

Usually no, unless there is a reason to emphasize it.

Russian often leaves out personal pronouns when the subject is already clear. Since Гончар is stated explicitly, adding он would be unnecessary.

So:

• Гончар вытянул стенки = completely normal
• Он вытянул стенки = He pulled up the walls
• Гончар, он вытянул стенки = possible in special contexts, but not neutral

The stress is:

• гончАр
• вЫтянул
• стЕнки

So roughly: ган-ЧАР ВЫ-тя-нул СТЕН-ки

For an English speaker, the most important thing is to remember that Russian stress is unpredictable and must often be learned word by word.