Después de cenar, voy a limpiar la sartén con agua caliente.

Because después is normally followed by de in Spanish.

• después de cenar = after eating dinner
• después de la cena = after dinner

Both are correct, but de is needed after después in this structure.

After a preposition like de, Spanish often uses the infinitive when English would use an -ing form.

So:

• después de cenar literally = after to dine
• natural English = after having dinner / after dinner

This is very common in Spanish:

• antes de salir = before leaving
• sin comer = without eating
• al entrar = upon entering / when entering

Voy a limpiar is the ir a + infinitive future, a very common way to talk about something you are going to do.

• voy = I go / I am going
• a limpiar = to clean
• together: I’m going to clean

In everyday Spanish, this is often more common than the simple future:

• voy a limpiar = I’m going to clean
• limpiaré = I will clean

Both are correct, but voy a limpiar often sounds more natural in everyday speech.

No. Here ir a + infinitive does not mean literal movement. It is a future construction.

So voy a limpiar la sartén means:

• I’m going to clean the frying pan

not

• I go somewhere in order to clean the frying pan

This is one of the most important uses of ir in Spanish.

Noun gender in Spanish is not always predictable from the ending. Sartén is simply a feminine noun:

• la sartén = the frying pan

You just have to learn it with the article.

A useful habit is to learn nouns as a unit:

• la sartén
• la mesa
• el cuchillo

That way you remember the gender more easily.

Usually sartén means a frying pan or skillet.

For a more general pan, Spanish can use other words depending on the type, for example:

• sartén = frying pan
• cacerola = saucepan / casserole pot
• olla = pot

So in this sentence, la sartén is specifically a frying pan.

Because Spanish often leaves out the article when talking about a substance in a general way.

• con agua caliente = with hot water

This means hot water in general, not a specific batch of water.

If you said:

• con el agua caliente

that would usually mean with the hot water, referring to specific water already mentioned or understood from the context.

Agua is grammatically feminine, even though in some cases it uses el in the singular:

• el agua fría
• el águila
• el alma

This happens because the noun begins with a stressed a sound, and Spanish avoids la agua because it sounds awkward.

But the noun is still feminine, so adjectives stay feminine:

• el agua fría
• mucha agua
• esta agua

In your sentence there is no article, so you just see:

• agua caliente

Also, caliente has the same form for masculine and feminine, so you do not see a visible change.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are natural:

• Después de cenar, voy a limpiar la sartén.
• Después de la cena, voy a limpiar la sartén.

The first focuses more on the action eating dinner.
The second uses the noun dinner.

In many situations they are interchangeable.

Because Después de cenar is an introductory time phrase, and a comma is often used after introductory elements in writing.

• Después de cenar, voy a limpiar la sartén.

In informal writing, especially with short phrases, some people may omit it:

• Después de cenar voy a limpiar la sartén.

Both can be seen, but the comma is very standard and clear.

Yes, and in Spain that may even sound more natural if you mean wash/scrub the pan rather than just clean it in a general sense.

• limpiar la sartén = clean the pan
• fregar la sartén = wash/scrub the pan

In Spain, fregar is very common for washing dishes, pans, and kitchenware.

So:

• Después de cenar, voy a fregar la sartén.

is also a very natural sentence in Peninsular Spanish.

Because in Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun.

• agua caliente = hot water
• casa grande = big house
• vino tinto = red wine

This is the normal word order in Spanish, even though English often puts the adjective before the noun.

A rough pronunciation guide for a native English speaker is:

• Después de cenar, voy a limpiar la sartén con agua caliente.
• des-PWES de seh-NAR, voy a leem-pyar la sar-TEN kon A-gwa ka-LYEN-te

A few pronunciation notes for Spain:

• c before e/i is usually pronounced like th in think in much of Spain:
  • cenar sounds roughly like theh-NAR
  • caliente starts more like ka-lee... because that c is before a
• ll in limpiar is usually like a y sound
• the stress falls on:
  • después
  • cenar
  • limpiar
  • sartén
  • caliente

The accent marks show where the stress goes.

• después is stressed on the last syllable: des-PUÉS
• sartén is stressed on the last syllable: sar-TÉN

Without the written accent, the stress rules of Spanish would suggest a different pronunciation, so the accent mark is needed.

Accent marks in Spanish are important because they help with both pronunciation and, sometimes, meaning.

Yes, Spanish allows some flexibility, though the original order is very natural.

Original:

• Después de cenar, voy a limpiar la sartén con agua caliente.

You could also say:

• Voy a limpiar la sartén con agua caliente después de cenar.

Both mean essentially the same thing. The first version puts the time phrase first for emphasis or smoother flow.