L’adresse du destinataire n’est pas lisible, alors la guichetière me demande un autre numéro.

In French, la becomes l’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

So:

• la adresse → l’adresse

It works the same way with many words:

• l’école = the school
• l’homme = the man
• l’amie = the female friend

So l’adresse simply means the address.

Du destinataire means of the recipient or of the addressee.

Breakdown:

• destinataire = recipient / addressee
• du = de + le, meaning of the

So:

• l’adresse du destinataire = the recipient’s address / the address of the recipient

In English, we often prefer the possessive form, but French often uses de phrases instead.

Because in French, de + le contracts to du.

So:

• de le destinataire → du destinataire

This is a standard contraction:

• de + le = du
• de + les = des
• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

So l’adresse du destinataire is the correct form, not de le destinataire.

This is the normal French way to make a sentence negative.

French usually forms negation with:

• ne ... pas

Around the verb. Here the verb is est (is), so:

• est = is
• n’est pas = is not

So:

• L’adresse du destinataire est lisible = The recipient’s address is legible
• L’adresse du destinataire n’est pas lisible = The recipient’s address is not legible

Also, ne becomes n’ before a vowel sound, which is why you see n’est.

Lisible means legible or readable.

In this sentence, n’est pas lisible means the address cannot be read clearly.

So:

• lisible = legible / readable
• pas lisible = not legible / unreadable

It is an adjective describing l’adresse.

This is very natural French for handwriting or print that is hard to read.

Here, alors means so, therefore, or in that case.

It connects the two ideas:

1. The address is not legible.
2. As a result, the clerk asks for another number.

So in this sentence, alors is showing a consequence, not just time.

Depending on context, alors can also mean then, but here so is the best fit.

La guichetière means a female clerk at a counter/window.

It comes from guichet, which is a service window or counter window, such as at:

• a post office
• a train station
• a bank
• an administrative office

So la guichetière is not just any employee; it specifically suggests a woman working at that kind of service counter.

The masculine form is le guichetier.

Yes, me demande literally means asks me.

Breakdown:

• demande = asks / is asking
• me = me

In French, object pronouns like me, te, lui, nous usually come before the verb:

• Elle me demande... = She asks me...
• Il te parle. = He speaks to you.
• Nous lui écrivons. = We write to him/her.

In English, me comes after the verb, but in French it usually comes before it.

French often expresses this idea differently from English.

In English, we say:

• asks me for another number

In French, the verb demander can take:

• the thing being asked for
• and the person it is asked from

A fuller version would be:

• La guichetière demande un autre numéro à moi
  but with pronouns, à moi becomes me before the verb:

• La guichetière me demande un autre numéro

So even though English needs for, French does not express it in the same place or in the same way.

Un autre numéro means another number or a different number.

Breakdown:

• un = a
• autre = other / another
• numéro = number

So:

• un autre numéro = another number

In context, it probably means some other identifying number that can help when the address is hard to read.

Also note:

• autre comes before the noun
• numéro is a masculine noun, so it uses un

Yes. The sentence is in the present tense.

The verbs are:

• est = is
• demande = asks / is asking

French often uses the present tense in situations where English might also use the simple present or the present progressive, depending on context.

So la guichetière me demande could mean:

• the clerk asks me
• the clerk is asking me

Both are possible, depending on the situation.

A useful word-for-word guide is:

• L’adresse = the address
• du destinataire = of the recipient
• n’est pas lisible = is not legible
• alors = so
• la guichetière = the female clerk
• me demande = asks me
• un autre numéro = another number

So the overall structure is:

[subject] + [negative verb] + [adjective], alors [subject] + [object pronoun] + [verb] + [object]

That gives:

L’adresse du destinataire n’est pas lisible, alors la guichetière me demande un autre numéro.

This is a very normal French sentence pattern.