En novembre, j’achète une petite guirlande, puis j’attends décembre pour décorer le sapin.

In French, en is commonly used with months, seasons, and years to mean in.

• en novembre = in November
• en été = in summer
• en 2026 = in 2026

For months, French does not use au the way English speakers might expect, and it usually does not use a definite article either.

So:

• en novembre is correct
• not au novembre

Also, putting en novembre at the beginning sets the time frame for the first action.

Because je becomes j’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

• je achète → j’achète
• je attends → j’attends

French does this to make pronunciation smoother.

This is a stem-changing verb pattern.

The infinitive is acheter, but in some forms the e in the stem changes to è so it is pronounced more openly:

• j’achète
• tu achètes
• il/elle achète
• ils/elles achètent

But:

• nous achetons
• vous achetez

This is a very common type of spelling change in French verbs.

French often uses the present tense to talk about:

• habits
• routines
• repeated actions
• a sequence of events in a general way

So this sentence can mean something like a usual pattern:

• In November, I buy a small garland, then I wait until December to decorate the tree.

If you wanted to describe one specific future occasion, French could use the future tense instead:

• j’achèterai
• j’attendrai

But the present is very natural here for a habitual or narrative-style statement.

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, but some very common short adjectives often come before it.

Petit / petite is one of those adjectives that usually comes before the noun:

• une petite guirlande
• un petit cadeau
• une petite maison

So this word order is normal and expected.

Because guirlande is a feminine noun.

French adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

• masculine singular: petit
• feminine singular: petite
• masculine plural: petits
• feminine plural: petites

Since guirlande is feminine singular, the adjective must be petite.

Guirlande can mean a garland, string decoration, or sometimes string of lights, depending on context.

In holiday contexts, it often refers to decoration used on or around a Christmas tree. Sometimes French speakers also say:

• une guirlande lumineuse = a string of lights

By itself, une guirlande is a general decorative garland.

Puis means then, next, or after that. It shows a clear sequence of actions.

• j’achète..., puis j’attends... = I buy..., then I wait...

If you used et, it would simply connect two actions:

• j’achète... et j’attends...

That is not wrong in many contexts, but puis is better when you want to emphasize order.

This is a very good question, because French and English do not always structure this the same way.

In French, attendre can take a direct object, including a time expression:

• j’attends décembre = I wait for December / I wait until December comes

French does not always need an extra word equivalent to English until here.

You could also say:

• j’attends jusqu’en décembre

But that can feel slightly different, often emphasizing the duration up to that point. In this sentence, j’attends décembre is a natural compact way to express waiting for December to arrive.

After pour, French normally uses the infinitive when the subject stays the same.

Here, the same person does both actions:

• j’attends
• and I do so pour décorer

So French uses:

• pour + infinitive

Examples:

• Je viens pour aider.
• Il travaille pour gagner de l’argent.

You would not use a conjugated verb after pour in this structure.

Le sapin uses the definite article because it refers to the tree as something already understood in the situation, especially the Christmas tree.

French often uses the definite article where English might sometimes be less explicit. In a holiday context, le sapin naturally means the Christmas tree.

Also, sapin by itself often means fir tree, but in this context it strongly suggests Christmas tree.

Not always.

Literally, un sapin is a fir tree. But in the right context, especially with holiday vocabulary like guirlande and décorer, it clearly means Christmas tree.

So context does a lot of work here.

In French, names of months are normally written in lowercase:

• novembre
• décembre
• janvier

This is different from English, where month names are capitalized.

So:

• en novembre
• en décembre

are correct in standard French.

A rough pronunciation guide would be:

• j’attends ≈ zha-tahn
• décembre ≈ day-sahmbr

A few useful points:

• The j’ sounds like the s in measure
• The ending of attends is nasal; the final ds is not fully pronounced
• In décembre, the en/em sound is nasal
• The final e is not pronounced

French pronunciation is tricky, but the main thing is that it flows smoothly:

• j’attends décembre

Yes, it is natural and understandable.

A native speaker might also say similar variations, depending on style:

• En novembre, j’achète une petite guirlande, puis j’attends décembre avant de décorer le sapin.
• En novembre, j’achète une petite guirlande, puis je préfère attendre décembre pour décorer le sapin.

The original sentence is perfectly good French. The only thing to note is that attendre décembre is slightly compact and idiomatic, but still natural.