J’archive les anciennes photos.

Because je changes to j’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

So:

• je + archive becomes j’archive

You cannot normally say je archive in standard French.

Here, archive is a verb form, not a noun.

It comes from the infinitive archiver, meaning to archive or to file away.

In this sentence:

• j’archive = I archive / I am archiving

French often uses the same word form where English would clearly separate noun and verb by position in the sentence.

It is the present tense: specifically, the present indicative.

So j’archive can mean:

• I archive
• I am archiving

French present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive from English, depending on context.

Yes. Archiver is a regular -er verb.

Its present-tense forms are:

• j’archive
• tu archives
• il / elle archive
• nous archivons
• vous archivez
• ils / elles archivent

So j’archive follows a very common pattern in French.

Les means the, so it refers to a specific set of photos.

• les photos = the photos
• des photos = some photos

In J’archive les anciennes photos, the speaker is talking about particular photos, not just any photos in general.

In French, some adjectives often come before the noun, and ancien is commonly one of them.

So:

• les anciennes photos is the natural order here

Also, with ancien, position can affect nuance:

• anciennes photos often suggests old / earlier / from the past
• photos anciennes can sound more literary and may suggest very old or antique

In everyday French, les anciennes photos sounds normal.

Because adjectives in French must agree with the noun they describe.

Here:

• photo is feminine
• photos is plural

So the adjective must also be feminine plural:

• masculine singular: ancien
• feminine singular: ancienne
• masculine plural: anciens
• feminine plural: anciennes

That is why the sentence has les anciennes photos.

Yes. Photo is feminine.

You say:

• une photo
• la photo
• les photos

This is because photo is short for photographie, which is also feminine. The shortened form keeps the same gender.

They are close, but not always identical in tone.

• anciennes photos suggests older photos, earlier photos, or photos from the past
• vieilles photos also means old photos, but can more strongly emphasize age

In many everyday situations, both can work. In this sentence, anciennes photos sounds a bit more neutral and organized, which fits well with archiver.

Roughly, it sounds like:

zhar-sheev layz ahn-syen photoh

A few important points:

• J’ sounds like the s in measure
• ch in archive sounds like sh
• les anciennes has a liaison, so the s in les is pronounced like z before anciennes
• photos ends with a silent s

A more French-like pronunciation is approximately:

/ʒaʁ.ʃiv le.z‿ɑ̃.sjɛn fo.to/

Yes. It sounds natural, especially if you are talking about organizing, storing, or filing photos, for example on a computer or in a collection.

It has a slightly orderly, administrative feel because archiver is a bit more formal than simply saying ranger or classer.

So the sentence works well for contexts like:

• sorting digital photos
• filing old family pictures
• moving images into an archive folder