Nous gardons les pots près de la terrasse jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche.

Because jusqu’à ce que normally requires the subjunctive in French.

So:

• la pelouse est plus sèche = the lawn is drier
• jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche = until the lawn is drier

French uses the subjunctive here because the action is viewed as something that has not happened yet at the moment of speaking. This is very common after expressions like:

• avant que
• pour que
• bien que
• jusqu’à ce que

So this is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

Soit is the third-person singular present subjunctive form of être.

The subjunctive forms of être are:

• que je sois
• que tu sois
• qu’il / elle / on soit
• que nous soyons
• que vous soyez
• qu’ils / elles soient

Since la pelouse is singular, French uses soit.

Because sèche agrees with la pelouse, which is a feminine singular noun.

The adjective sec / sèche means dry. Its forms include:

• sec = masculine singular
• sèche = feminine singular
• secs = masculine plural
• sèches = feminine plural

So:

• un sol plus sec = a drier ground/surface
• une pelouse plus sèche = a drier lawn

The plus means more, so plus sèche means drier.

Because près is normally followed by de when it means near.

So:

• près de la terrasse = near the terrace
• près du mur = near the wall
• près de chez moi = near my home

You should think of près de as a fixed expression.

A common learner mistake is trying to say près la terrasse, but standard French needs de.

Les pots means the pots, while des pots means some pots.

In this sentence, les pots suggests that the speaker and listener already know which pots are being talked about. They are specific pots, not just any pots.

So:

• les pots = the pots
• des pots = some pots

French uses the definite article very often when the objects are already known from context.

By itself, pot can mean several things depending on context:

• a pot
• a jar
• a container
• a flowerpot

In this sentence, because we have terrasse and pelouse, many learners would naturally understand les pots as flowerpots / plant pots. The surrounding context strongly suggests gardening or outdoor objects.

So the exact English word depends on the situation, but flowerpots is very plausible here.

French often uses the present tense where English might say:

• We keep...
• We are keeping...
• We’ll keep... in some contexts

Nous gardons is the present tense of garder. In context, it can express a current ongoing plan or action: We’re keeping the pots...

You could also use a future form in some contexts:

• Nous garderons les pots... = We will keep the pots...

But the present tense sounds very natural when describing what is being done now until a later point.

Not exactly. Garder can mean several related things, including:

• to keep
• to leave
• to hold on to
• to look after
• sometimes to guard

In this sentence, garder means to keep or to leave the pots in a certain place for now.

So it is not about standing guard over them. It is more like: We keep / leave the pots near the terrace...

Jusqu’à is a contraction of:

• jusque
  • à → jusqu’à

French often adds -qu’ before a vowel sound to make pronunciation smoother.

You will also see this in other expressions:

• jusqu’ici = until here / up to now
• jusqu’au matin = until morning
• jusqu’à demain = until tomorrow

So the apostrophe is just showing that jusque has shortened before à.

The full expression is jusqu’à ce que, which means until when followed by a clause with a verb.

Compare:

• jusqu’à lundi = until Monday
• jusqu’à midi = until noon
• jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche = until the lawn is drier

So:

• jusqu’à + noun/time expression
• jusqu’à ce que + clause

You should learn jusqu’à ce que as a complete expression, because it regularly triggers the subjunctive.

Yes, plus can sometimes mean more, and sometimes no more / no longer, depending on context and pronunciation.

Here, plus sèche clearly means more dry / drier.

Why?

Because it is followed by an adjective in a comparison:

• plus sèche = drier
• plus grand = bigger
• plus intéressant = more interesting

In negative expressions, plus means no more:

• Je ne veux plus attendre. = I no longer want to wait.

So in this sentence, there is no ambiguity: plus sèche means drier.

A careful pronunciation would be approximately:

Nous gardons les pots près de la terrasse jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche.

Roughly: noo gar-don lay poh pray duh la te-rass zhus-kah suh kuh la pe-looz swah plew se-sh

A few useful points:

• nous gardons: the -s in nous is normally silent
• les pots: pots sounds like po
• près de: près sounds like pray
• jusqu’à: sounds like zhus-kah
• soit: sounds like swah
• sèche: sounds like sesh

Also, in natural speech, some words flow together smoothly, which is normal in French.

Yes, but the meaning may change slightly.

For example:

• près de la terrasse = near the terrace
• à côté de la terrasse = next to / beside the terrace
• sur la terrasse = on the terrace
• devant la terrasse = in front of the terrace

So près de suggests general nearness, while à côté de sounds a bit more exact, like right beside.

The word order is quite normal for French:

• Nous gardons les pots = subject + verb + object
• près de la terrasse = place
• jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche = time/condition endpoint

So the sentence builds like this:

1. Nous gardons les pots
2. près de la terrasse
3. jusqu’à ce que la pelouse soit plus sèche

That is a very natural French structure: main statement first, then location, then the until clause.