Nous avons acheté une housse pour le matelas et un petit tabouret pour l’entrée.

This is the passé composé, a very common French past tense used for completed actions.

It is formed with:

• the auxiliary verb avoir in the present tense
• plus the past participle acheté

So:

• nous avons = we have
• acheté = bought

Together, nous avons acheté means we bought or we have bought.

The full verb is acheter = to buy.

Because with avoir, the past participle usually does not agree with the subject.

So even though nous means we, you still write:

• Nous avons acheté

not

• Nous avons achetés

Agreement with a past participle used with avoir only happens in special cases, mainly when a direct object comes before the verb. That is not happening here.

Because French nouns have grammatical gender.

• housse is feminine, so it takes une
• tabouret is masculine, so it takes un

That is also why the adjective changes:

• un petit tabouret
• but if the noun were feminine, it would be une petite ...

You have to learn the gender as part of each noun.

Housse usually means a cover, slipcover, or protective cover for something.

In this sentence, une housse pour le matelas means a cover for the mattress.

Depending on context, housse can be used for other kinds of covers too, such as:

• une housse de couette = a duvet cover
• une housse de canapé = a sofa cover
• une housse d’ordinateur = a laptop sleeve/case

So the basic idea is a fabric or protective covering.

Here pour means for.

So:

• une housse pour le matelas = a cover for the mattress

French uses le matelas because matelas is masculine singular.

So the structure is:

• pour + le + noun

There is no contraction here, because pour does not combine with le the way à and de do.

For example:

• à + le = au
• de + le = du

But:

• pour le stays pour le

Because entrée begins with a vowel sound.

In French, la becomes l’ before a vowel or mute h. This is called elision.

So:

• la entrée becomes l’entrée

The noun entrée is feminine, but the article changes form for pronunciation.

Other examples:

• l’école instead of la école
• l’histoire instead of la histoire

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

Petit is one of those common adjectives that usually comes before the noun.

So:

• un petit tabouret = a small stool

not usually:

• un tabouret petit

A useful beginner rule is that common adjectives like petit, grand, jeune, vieux, joli, bon often come before the noun.

Because tabouret is masculine singular.

Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe:

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

So:

• un petit tabouret
• une petite table

It is repeated because there are really two separate things being bought:

• une housse pour le matelas
• un petit tabouret pour l’entrée

Repeating pour makes the structure clear and natural.

Without the second pour, the sentence could sound awkward or less clear, because the two objects each have their own purpose.

So French naturally says:

• une housse pour le matelas et un petit tabouret pour l’entrée

Here l’entrée means the entryway, hall, or entrance area of a home.

So:

• un petit tabouret pour l’entrée = a small stool for the entryway

Be careful: entrée can also mean other things depending on context, such as:

• a starter or appetizer
• an entry
• an entrance

In this sentence, because it is about furniture in a home, it clearly means the entrance area.

French often uses articles more regularly than English does.

In this sentence, French says:

• pour l’entrée

literally for the entryway

In natural English, we may say either:

• for the entryway
• or just for the entrance / for the hall

French generally prefers to keep the article with the noun, so l’entrée sounds normal and expected.

Not always. In many everyday contexts, passé composé is best translated as the simple past in English.

So Nous avons acheté can mean:

• We bought
• or We have bought

In this sentence, English most naturally says:

• We bought a cover for the mattress and a small stool for the entryway.

So even though the French form literally looks like have bought, the best English translation often uses the simple past.