Le samedi, nous jouons au football sur un terrain près de la rivière.

In French, using le before a day of the week usually expresses a habitual action:

• Le samedi, nous jouons au football.
  = On Saturdays, we play football (every Saturday / regularly).

Without le, it typically refers to one specific Saturday (often understood from context), not a repeated habit:

• Samedi, nous jouons au football.
  = On Saturday, we’re playing football (this coming Saturday / that Saturday).

So Le samedi here means the action is done regularly on Saturdays.

In French, names of days of the week are not capitalized, unless they:

• start the sentence, or
• are part of a proper name (very rare with days).

So:

• Le samedi, nous jouons au football. (correct: samedi in lower case)
• At the start of a sentence you would capitalize the first word anyway: Le is capitalized, but samedi stays lower case.

French has only one simple present tense, and it covers several English uses:

• habitual:
  Nous jouons au football le samedi.
  = We play football on Saturdays.
• general truth / routine:
  Je travaille à Paris. = I work in Paris.
• right now / progressive (when context makes it clear):
  Nous mangeons. = We are eating.

So nous jouons here naturally means “we (usually) play,” thanks to Le samedi, which marks it as a habit.

To insist on a specific future Saturday, you might say:

• Samedi, nous allons jouer au football.
  = On Saturday, we are going to play football.

Because in French:

• For sports and games, you use jouer à + sport / game:
  
  • jouer au football (au = à + le)
  • jouer au tennis
  • jouer aux cartes
• For musical instruments, you use jouer de + instrument:
  
  • jouer du piano
  • jouer de la guitare

So:

• jouer au football = correct
• jouer le football = unnatural / wrong in standard French
• just jouer football = wrong; you need the preposition and article.

Au is a contraction of the preposition à and the masculine singular article le:

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux
• à + la = à la (no change)
• à + l’ = à l’ (no change)

Since football is masculine singular (le football):

• jouer à le football → jouer au football

Yes.

• au football – more complete, a bit more formal or neutral.
• au foot – very common in everyday speech, more informal/colloquial.

Both are correct:

• Nous jouons au football le samedi.
• Nous jouons au foot le samedi.

They mean the same thing in this context.

The choice of preposition reflects how French speakers conceptualize the place:

• sur un terrain = on a field / pitch (on its surface)
• dans un terrain would sound odd here; dans (in) implies being inside something.

You play on the playing surface, so French uses sur.

Also note the article:

• un terrain = a field (one of possibly many, not specified which)
  If it were a specific, known pitch, you could say:

• sur le terrain = on the (the known) field

In this sentence:

• un terrain (de football) = a football field / pitch, often just an open field with lines/goals.
• un stade = a stadium, usually with stands, infrastructure, maybe seating for spectators.

So:

• sur un terrain près de la rivière
  = on a field/pitch near the river

You might also hear:

• un terrain de foot – a football field (more informal)
• un terrain de sport – a sports ground (more general)

Two separate points:

1. The preposition:

   • The structure is près de + noun (near / close to):
     • près de la rivière
     • près du pont (de + le → du)
     • près de l’école
   • You must keep de:
     ✗ près la rivière is incorrect.

2. Agreement with the noun:

   • rivière is feminine: la rivière → de la rivière
   • If it were masculine: le fleuve → près du fleuve (de + le)

So près de la rivière is the correct combination of près de + la rivière.

Both are types of rivers, but French makes a distinction:

• une rivière: a river that flows into another river or into a lake.
• un fleuve: a major river that flows directly into the sea or the ocean.

Examples:

• La Seine in Paris is un fleuve (it flows into the English Channel).
• A smaller river flowing into the Seine would be une rivière.

In everyday English, both are usually just “river.” In the sentence, la rivière just means “the river” near the field.

Yes, that’s possible and correct. Both are natural:

• Le samedi, nous jouons au football sur un terrain près de la rivière.
• Nous jouons au football sur un terrain près de la rivière le samedi.

Putting Le samedi at the beginning emphasizes the time a bit more, but the meaning is the same: it’s a regular Saturday activity.

Yes.

• Nous jouons au football…
  = We play football…
• On joue au football…
  = We play football… / People play football…

In modern spoken French, on is extremely common for “we” and sounds more casual:

• Spoken, informal: Le samedi, on joue au foot…
• More neutral / written: Le samedi, nous jouons au football…

Both are correct; choose based on formality and style.

Approximate guide (stressed syllable in caps, English-like hints):

• Le → like “luh”
• samedi → “sa-muh-DEE” (not sam-day)
• nous → “noo”
• jouons → “zhoo-ON” (final -s of nous is silent; nasal ‘on’ sound)
• au → “oh”
• football → in France often “foot-BAHL” (second syllable with open a)
• sur → “syur” (front rounded vowel, a bit like “sir” with lips rounded)
• un → nasal, like “uh(n)” (no clear n at the end)
• terrain → “teh-RAIN” (nasal at the end again)
• près → “preh”
• de → “duh”
• la → “lah”
• rivière → “ree-VYER” (final e pronounced; no sound for final e in spelling)

Spoken smoothly you’ll get something like:
Le samedi, nou-zjou-ON zo foot-BAHL sur un teh-RAIN preh duh la ree-VYER.