J’achète des légumes frais au marché le samedi.

In French, je becomes j’ before a word that starts with a vowel or a silent h. This is called elision.

So:

• je achète → not used
• j’achète → correct

French does this to make pronunciation smoother.

The verb is acheter (to buy). In the present tense, the stem changes in some forms:

• j’achète
• tu achètes
• il/elle achète
• nous achetons
• vous achetez
• ils/elles achètent

The è shows the vowel sound changes in those forms. This is a common spelling change in some French verbs.

Here, des is the plural indefinite article. It usually means some or just indicates an unspecified plural noun.

So:

• un légume = a vegetable
• des légumes = some vegetables

In English, we often leave some unstated, so des légumes can simply be translated as vegetables.

In French, many adjectives come after the noun. Frais (fresh) is one of the adjectives that usually goes after the noun.

So:

• des légumes frais = fresh vegetables

This is normal French word order.

Because it agrees with légumes, which is masculine plural.

• légume = masculine singular
• légumes = masculine plural

So the adjective must also be masculine plural:

• un légume frais
• des légumes frais

This is called adjective agreement.

Because à + le contracts to au.

So:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

That means:

• au marché = at/to the market

You cannot normally say à le marché in standard French.

Le samedi often means on Saturdays or every Saturday. It expresses a habit or something that happens regularly.

So:

• le samedi = on Saturdays / every Saturday

If you just say samedi, that usually refers to this Saturday or Saturday in a more specific sense, depending on context.

French uses the present tense more broadly than English.

J’achète can mean:

• I buy
• I am buying

In this sentence, because of le samedi, it clearly describes a habit, so the natural meaning is:

• I buy fresh vegetables at the market on Saturdays
• or I buy fresh vegetables at the market every Saturday

A simple pronunciation guide is:

zhah-SHET day lay-goom fray oh mar-SHAY luh sam-DEE

A few useful points:

• j’ sounds like the s in measure
• achète has the open è sound, like eh
• des is pronounced day
• the final s in légumes is silent
• frais sounds like fray
• au sounds like oh
• the final consonants in marché and samedi are mostly silent except the pronounced d in samedi

Yes, you can. Both can express a repeated action.

• le samedi = on Saturdays / every Saturday
• les samedis = on Saturdays

Le samedi is very common when talking about habits in a general way. Les samedis is also correct, but can sometimes feel a little more like you are thinking of individual Saturdays as repeated occasions.

In this sentence, au marché is best understood as at the market, because it tells you where the buying happens:

• J’achète des légumes frais au marché = I buy fresh vegetables at the market

French à / au can sometimes correspond to to or at in English, depending on the verb and context. Here, with acheter, it gives the location.