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Tu ajoutes du sel dans la salade.

Tu ajoutes du sel dans la salade.
You are adding some salt to the salad.
From Lesson 45:Partitive articles (du, de la, de l')·French

Questions & Answers about Tu ajoutes du sel dans la salade.

Why do we say du sel instead of just sel?
In French, you rarely use a noun by itself without an article (like "a", "the", or "some"). Because salt is a mass noun (something you can't easily count), we use the partitive article du (meaning "some"). Du is used here because sel is a masculine word.
The English translation says "to the salad", so why does the French use dans instead of à?
In English, we "add something to something," but in French, you physically add it into the dish. So, you use dans (in or into) when putting an ingredient into food.
Why does ajoutes end with an "s"?
Ajouter (to add) is a regular -er verb. When matching it with tu (informal "you"), the present tense ending is always -es. Remember that this "s" is silent, so it sounds exactly like ajoute.
Why do we use la for the salad, but du for the salt?
We use du (some) for the salt because you are adding an unspecified amount of it. We use la (the) for the salad because you are adding the salt into a specific, already-made bowl of salad, not just "some salad".

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