En novembre, nous restons souvent à la maison parce qu’il fait froid et qu’il pleut.

En novembre is the normal French way to say in November.

For months, French uses en:

• en janvier
• en avril
• en novembre

So:

• En novembre = In November

You would not normally say au novembre or dans novembre here.

French often uses the verb rester for to stay / remain in a place.

So:

• nous restons à la maison = we stay at home

If you said nous sommes à la maison, that usually means we are at home, not necessarily that we are staying there.

So rester emphasizes remaining in that place.

Restons is the present tense form of rester with nous.

The present tense of rester is:

• je reste
• tu restes
• il/elle/on reste
• nous restons
• vous restez
• ils/elles restent

So:

• nous restons = we stay / we remain

The sentence is in the present tense, but in French the present tense can also express something habitual, like we often stay.

In French, adverbs like souvent often come after the conjugated verb.

So:

• nous restons souvent = we often stay

This is a very common word order in French:

• Je mange souvent ici.
• Elle parle souvent français.

English and French do not always place adverbs in exactly the same spot, so this is something learners often need to get used to.

À la maison is the usual French expression for at home.

So:

• à la maison = at home

If you say dans la maison, that means inside the house, focusing on physical location inside the building.

Compare:

• Nous restons à la maison. = We stay at home.
• Nous sommes dans la maison. = We are inside the house.

So à la maison is the natural idiomatic choice here.

French avoids saying que directly before a vowel sound. When que comes before a word starting with a vowel or silent h, it usually shortens to qu’.

So:

• parce que il becomes parce qu’il

This is called elision.

Other examples:

• je aime → j’aime
• que elle → qu’elle

So parce qu’il fait froid is the correct form.

The sentence has two linked ideas after parce que:

• il fait froid
• il pleut

French commonly repeats que before the second clause:

• parce qu’il fait froid et qu’il pleut

This means:

• because it is cold and it is raining

The que is not translated separately into English, but it helps connect the second clause properly in French.

You may sometimes hear learners wonder whether et il pleut would work. In careful standard French, et qu’il pleut is the more natural structure after parce que.

In weather expressions, French often uses il as a dummy subject, just like English uses it in it is cold or it is raining.

So:

• il fait froid = it is cold
• il pleut = it is raining

The il does not refer to a person. It is just required by the grammar.

For weather, French commonly uses faire in expressions about temperature:

• il fait chaud = it is hot
• il fait froid = it is cold
• il fait beau = the weather is nice
• il fait mauvais = the weather is bad

Il est froid usually means it is cold about a thing or a person, not general weather.

So:

• Le café est froid. = The coffee is cold.
• Il fait froid. = The weather is cold.

French uses the verb pleuvoir (to rain) for rain.

So:

• il pleut = it is raining
• il a plu = it rained
• il pleuvait = it was raining

French does not say il fait pluie for normal weather talk.

The whole sentence is in the present tense:

• nous restons
• il fait
• il pleut

In French, the present tense can describe:

1. what is happening now
2. general truths
3. habitual actions

Here it describes a habitual situation:

• En novembre, nous restons souvent à la maison... = In November, we often stay at home...

So the present tense works very naturally.

Yes, souvent usually means often.

In this sentence:

• nous restons souvent à la maison = we often stay at home

It expresses frequency, just like often in English.

Other common frequency words are:

• toujours = always
• parfois = sometimes
• rarement = rarely
• jamais = never

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

En novembre, nous restons souvent à la maison parce qu’il fait froid et qu’il pleut.

A simple English-friendly guide might be:

ahn no-vahm-br, noo res-tohn soo-vahn tah lah may-zohn parss keel fay frwah ay keel plu

A few useful points:

• En sounds nasal, not like a full English en
• novembre ends with a soft French r
• souvent has a nasal ending
• qu’il sounds like keel
• pleut sounds roughly like pluh with a French vowel, not like English ploot

Also, in natural speech, French flows together smoothly, especially in:

• parce qu’il
• et qu’il

Sometimes, yes, but the meaning is slightly different.

• à la maison = at home
• chez nous = at our place / in our home / at our house

In many contexts they are close, but à la maison is the most neutral and common way to say at home.

So:

• Nous restons souvent à la maison sounds very natural.
• Nous restons souvent chez nous is also possible, but it can feel a little more like we stay at our place.

The comma is not always strictly necessary, but it is very common and helpful.

En novembre is a time expression placed at the beginning of the sentence. A comma makes the sentence easier to read:

• En novembre, nous restons souvent à la maison...

Without the comma, the sentence is still understandable:

• En novembre nous restons souvent à la maison...

But the version with the comma is very natural in writing.