После уборки я налила воду в таз и замочила тряпки.

Because после requires the genitive case.

• уборка = nominative singular
• уборки = genitive singular

So:

• после уборки = after the cleaning / after cleaning

This is a very common pattern:

• после урока = after the lesson
• после работы = after work
• после дождя = after the rain

No, уборки is a noun, from уборка, meaning cleaning, tidying up, or cleanup.

In this sentence, после уборки literally means after the cleaning. In natural English, we usually just say after cleaning or after I finished cleaning.

So although English often uses a verb form, Russian is using a noun phrase here.

The -а ending shows past tense feminine singular.

In Russian past tense, verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:

• я налил = I poured (male speaker)
• я налила = I poured (female speaker)

And similarly:

• я замочил = I soaked (male speaker)
• я замочила = I soaked (female speaker)

So this sentence was said by a female speaker.

Because вода is the direct object of налила.

The speaker poured what? → воду

So вода changes to its accusative singular form:

• nominative: вода
• accusative: воду

This is normal for feminine nouns ending in -а.

Because в can take two different cases, depending on the meaning:

• в + accusative = movement into somewhere
• в + prepositional = location in somewhere

Here the water is being poured into the basin, so Russian uses accusative:

• в таз = into the basin

Compare:

• вода в тазе = the water is in the basin
• налила воду в таз = poured water into the basin

So the case shows direction/result of movement, not just location.

Таз means a basin, washbasin, or sometimes a plastic tub used for washing, soaking, or cleaning things.

In this sentence, it is the container into which the water was poured.

Its forms here are:

• nominative: таз
• accusative: таз

Since it is an inanimate masculine noun, nominative and accusative are the same in the singular.

Not exactly. Замочить means to soak or to leave something to soak.

So замочила тряпки means the speaker put the rags into water so they would soak.

This is different from:

• помыла = washed
• постирала = washed laundry / did the washing
• замочила = soaked

So the idea is not that the cloths were already washed, but that they were left in water.

Тряпки is accusative plural, because it is the direct object of замочила.

The speaker soaked what? → тряпки

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

• nominative plural: тряпки
• accusative plural: тряпки

That is why the form does not visibly change.

Singular and plural:

• тряпка = a rag / cloth
• тряпки = rags / cloths

Because the sentence describes completed, one-time actions in sequence.

• налить = to pour (perfective)
• замочить = to soak / put to soak (perfective)

Perfective is natural here because the speaker is telling what she did, step by step:

1. she poured water into the basin
2. she soaked the rags

If you used imperfective forms such as наливала or замачивала, it would sound more like:

• repeated action,
• process,
• background description,
• or emphasis on duration rather than completion.

So perfective is the normal choice for a simple narrative of finished actions.

Russian often does not need an extra word like then when sequence is already clear from context.

The structure

• я налила воду в таз и замочила тряпки

naturally means that one action happened and then the next one happened.

The conjunction и simply links the actions, and the perfective verbs help show they are completed events in order.

If needed, Russian could add words like:

• потом
• затем

But they are not necessary here.

Yes. Both are possible.

• После уборки я налила воду в таз и замочила тряпки.
• Я после уборки налила воду в таз и замочила тряпки.

The difference is mostly about focus and word order, not basic meaning.

• После уборки at the beginning emphasizes the time frame: After cleaning...
• Я at the beginning puts slightly more focus on the subject: I, after cleaning, ...

Russian word order is flexible, but the version with После уборки first sounds very natural because it sets the scene before the actions.

Yes, absolutely.

For example:

• После того как я убралась, я налила воду в таз и замочила тряпки.

This means essentially the same thing: After I finished cleaning, I poured water into the basin and soaked the rags.

The difference is style:

• после уборки = shorter, more compact, more noun-based
• после того как я убралась = more explicit, more clause-based

Russian often prefers the shorter noun phrase when the meaning is obvious.

Here it strongly suggests a deliberate action: she intentionally put the rags in water to soak.

That is because замочить in this context commonly means to leave something soaking.

If Russian wanted to say she accidentally got them wet, it would usually use a different wording or make the accidental meaning clearer from context.

So in this sentence, the most natural reading is definitely intentional: part of a cleaning routine.