Nous choisissons le grès plutôt que la faïence.

Because choisir is conjugated to match nous.

In the present tense:

• je choisis
• tu choisis
• il/elle choisit
• nous choisissons
• vous choisissez
• ils/elles choisissent

So with nous, you need choisissons.

This is also a useful pattern to notice: many -ir verbs like choisir add -iss- in some present-tense forms, including nous choisissons.

Plutôt que means rather than.

So the structure is:

• choisir X plutôt que Y = to choose X rather than Y

In this sentence:

• le grès = the thing chosen
• la faïence = the thing not chosen

It expresses preference or selection between two options.

In French, nouns usually need an article. English often drops the article in general statements, but French usually does not.

So French says:

• le grès
• la faïence

even when English might simply say stoneware and earthenware/faience.

This is very normal in French. Bare nouns are much less common than in English.

Because here the nouns are the direct objects of choisir, and they are being treated as specific categories or options, not as an unspecified quantity.

Compare:

• Nous choisissons le grès plutôt que la faïence.
  We choose stoneware rather than faience/earthenware.

• Nous achetons du grès.
  We are buying some stoneware.

The partitive articles du / de la are more about some amount of something.
The definite articles le / la are often used for a category, type, or option, especially in comparisons like this one.

Yes:

• le grès is masculine
• la faïence is feminine

In many cases, grammatical gender has to be learned with the noun. That is why it is best to memorize nouns together with their article:

• le grès
• la faïence

That will help you use them correctly with articles and adjectives later.

Grès is pronounced roughly like gray, but with a French r.

A simple guide:

• grès ≈ gray
  IPA: /ɡʁɛ/

A few points:

• The è gives an eh sound, not the sound of ee
• The final s is silent
• The gr starts with the French r, which is different from English r

Faïence is pronounced approximately fa-yanss.

IPA: /fa.jɑ̃s/

The ï is important because it shows that the vowels are pronounced separately:

• faï- = two sounds, not one blended vowel

So you hear something like:

• fa
  • yence

Without the diaeresis, French readers might try to read the vowels differently. The ï tells you clearly that there is a separate syllable there.

Faïence is a type of glazed ceramic. Depending on context, it can be translated as:

• faience
• earthenware
• sometimes more generally pottery or ceramic ware

The best English translation depends on the topic:

• in art/history contexts, faience may be the best choice
• in everyday material comparisons, earthenware may sound more natural

So if the meaning has already been given to the learner, it is worth remembering that faïence is a fairly specific ceramics word.

In everyday spoken French, people often use on where English would use we.

So in conversation, you might often hear:

• On choisit le grès plutôt que la faïence.

This means essentially the same thing as:

• Nous choisissons le grès plutôt que la faïence.

The difference is mainly register:

• nous choisissons sounds a bit more formal, careful, or written
• on choisit is very common in everyday speech

Sometimes, yes, but they are not always exactly the same.

• plutôt que = rather than
• au lieu de = instead of / in place of

In this sentence, plutôt que works very naturally because it emphasizes a preference or choice between two options.

You could say:

• Nous choisissons le grès au lieu de la faïence.

That is grammatical, but it may sound a little more like we choose stoneware instead of faience, while plutôt que more directly highlights the comparison or preference.

Yes, it is in the present tense.

Nous choisissons can express several things depending on context, such as:

• a current action: We are choosing
• a general habit: We choose
• a decision in a current situation: We choose

French present tense often covers both the English simple present and present progressive.

So without extra context, it could mean:

• We choose stoneware rather than faience or
• We are choosing stoneware rather than faience

Mostly yes.

French structure here is:

• Nous = subject
• choisissons = verb
• le grès = object
• plutôt que la faïence = comparison

So it follows a straightforward pattern:

• We choose X rather than Y
• Nous choisissons X plutôt que Y

That makes this sentence fairly easy for English speakers in terms of word order.

Yes, but that would change the meaning.

• Nous choisissons le grès... = We choose / We are choosing stoneware...
• Choisissons le grès... = Let’s choose stoneware...

Without nous, the verb form can become an imperative-like suggestion. So in the original sentence, nous is important because it states what we do, rather than proposing an action.

Because choisir directly takes an object in French, just as choose often does in English.

So:

• choisir quelque chose = to choose something

That is why you say:

• Nous choisissons le grès

and then add the comparison:

• plutôt que la faïence

There is no need for a preposition between choisissons and le grès.

A few small things:

• Nous is pronounced roughly noo
• choisissons is roughly shwah-zee-sohn
• grès has a silent final s
• faïence has separate vowel sounds because of ï

A rough pronunciation guide for the full sentence is:

noo shwah-zee-sohn luh gray plu-toh kuh la fa-yahnss

That is only an approximation, but it highlights the main pronunciation issues an English speaker might notice.