En avril, les enfants cherchent les œufs de Pâques dans le jardin avant le déjeuner.

For months in French, the usual preposition is en:

• en avril = in April
• en mai = in May
• en décembre = in December

French does not normally use an article with months in this kind of expression, so au avril is incorrect.

A useful pattern is:

• en + month
• en + year

For example:

• en avril
• en 2026

Because En avril is an introductory time expression placed at the beginning of the sentence.

In English, we often do the same:

• In April, the children look for Easter eggs...

In French, the comma is very natural here, especially in writing, because it separates the opening time phrase from the main part of the sentence. It is mainly a punctuation/style choice to make the sentence easier to read.

French usually needs an article before a noun. So where English can often say:

• children
• eggs
• lunch

French often says:

• les enfants
• les œufs
• le déjeuner

Here, les enfants can mean:

• the children if they are specific children already understood from context, or
• sometimes a general group, depending on the situation

Bare plural nouns like enfants without an article are much less common in French than in English.

Because chercher takes a direct object in French.

• chercher quelque chose = to look for something
• chercher quelqu’un = to look for someone

So:

• Les enfants cherchent les œufs = The children are looking for the eggs

English uses look for, but French does not use a preposition here.

This is a very important difference:

• look for eggs → chercher des œufs
• not chercher pour des œufs

cherchent is pronounced roughly like shersh.

A key point: the -ent ending on third-person plural verbs is usually silent in French.

So these sound different in spelling, but not in pronunciation:

• je cherche
• il cherche
• ils cherchent

They all have the same spoken verb form here: cherche / cherchent ≈ shersh.

This is a famous tricky word for learners.

• Singular: un œuf → the final f is pronounced
• Plural: des œufs / les œufs → the final f is usually silent

So in this sentence:

• les œufs is pronounced approximately lay-zuh or more accurately lez-ø

There is also a liaison between les and œufs, so the s in les sounds like z:

• les œufs → lez œufs

The written œ is a special French vowel spelling called a ligature.

de Pâques means of Easter or, more naturally in English, Easter.

So:

• les œufs de Pâques = Easter eggs

French often uses de where English uses a noun directly as an adjective:

• une table de cuisine = a kitchen table
• les vacances d’été = summer holidays
• les œufs de Pâques = Easter eggs

So French is literally saying the eggs of Easter, but the natural English translation is Easter eggs.

In French, names of months are not normally capitalized:

• avril
• mai
• janvier

But Pâques is the name of a holiday, so it is capitalized.

This is different from English, where months are capitalized too:

• April
• May
• Easter

In French:

• avril = lowercase
• Pâques = uppercase

dans means in or inside.

So:

• dans le jardin = in the garden

It describes where the children are looking for the eggs.

French could sometimes use other prepositions depending on meaning, but dans le jardin is the straightforward and natural choice when talking about something located in the garden area.

Again, French usually needs an article before a noun.

So instead of just in garden, French says:

• dans le jardin = in the garden

Even when English sometimes drops an article in certain expressions, French often keeps one. Articles are much more regular in French.

Because French commonly uses the definite article with meals:

• le petit-déjeuner = breakfast
• le déjeuner = lunch
• le dîner = dinner

So:

• avant le déjeuner = before lunch

In English, we usually say before lunch without the, but French often keeps the article.

This is very normal after prepositions:

• avant le déjeuner
• après le dîner
• pendant le repas

Not always.

In standard modern French, especially in France:

• le petit-déjeuner = breakfast
• le déjeuner = lunch
• le dîner = dinner

But in some regions, especially parts of Belgium or Switzerland, meal names can differ.

For most learners, though, the safest meaning here is:

• le déjeuner = lunch

Yes, French word order is somewhat flexible, especially with time and place expressions.

This sentence begins with a time phrase:

• En avril, ...

That puts the month in focus first.

You could also say something like:

• Les enfants cherchent les œufs de Pâques dans le jardin en avril, avant le déjeuner.

But the original version sounds very natural because it gives the broad time first, then the action, then the place, then the more specific time:

• En avril → in April
• dans le jardin → in the garden
• avant le déjeuner → before lunch

That ordering is clear and elegant.