Le chant des oiseaux me donne envie de sourire.

French usually needs an article where English often does not.

So Le chant des oiseaux literally means the song/singing of the birds, but in natural English we might simply say Birdsong or The sound of birds singing.

Using le here makes chant a specific noun phrase, not just the bare idea of singing.

Des oiseaux means of the birds here.

This is the contraction of:

• de + les = des

So:

• le chant de les oiseaux → le chant des oiseaux

Even though des often means some, in this sentence it is not the plural indefinite article. It is the contracted form of de + les.

Not exactly.

• chant = singing, song, chant, the act or sound of singing
• chanson = a song, usually a full song as a piece of music

In Le chant des oiseaux, chant refers to the sound or singing of birds, so birdsong is a very good translation.

Me means to me here.

French uses an indirect object pronoun before the verb:

• Le chant des oiseaux me donne envie de sourire.
• Literally: The birdsong gives to me a desire to smile.

In natural English, we would say:

• Birdsong makes me want to smile.

So me is the person affected by donne envie.

The expression is donner envie de + infinitive, which means:

• to make someone feel like doing something
• to make someone want to do something

Examples:

• Ça me donne envie de dormir. = It makes me want to sleep.
• Ce film me donne envie de voyager. = This film makes me want to travel.

So here:

• me donne envie de sourire = makes me want to smile

Because the fixed expression is avoir envie de or donner envie de + infinitive.

So you say:

• J’ai envie de sourire.
• Ça me donne envie de sourire.

Not envie sourire.

That de links envie to the verb that follows.

Here it is a verb in the infinitive form: to smile.

French infinitives often end in -er, -ir, or -re, and sourire is one of the irregular -re verbs.

Compare:

• un sourire = a smile (noun)
• sourire = to smile (verb)

In this sentence, it is definitely the verb.

Usually Le chant des oiseaux is more natural if you mean birdsong in a general sense.

• Le chant des oiseaux = birdsong / the singing of birds in general
• Les chants des oiseaux = the songs of the birds, which sounds more like distinct songs or multiple types of bird calls

So the singular chant is the most idiomatic choice here.

Because the subject is Le chant, which is singular.

The full subject is:

• Le chant des oiseaux

The main noun is chant, and des oiseaux just tells you whose chant it is.

So the verb matches chant:

• Le chant ... donne
• not donnent

Yes, but the meaning is slightly different.

• me donne envie de sourire = makes me want to smile
• me fait sourire = makes me smile

The first focuses on the feeling or impulse. The second suggests the action itself happens more directly.

So both are possible, but they are not exactly identical.

The basic structure is:

• Le chant des oiseaux = subject
• me = indirect object pronoun
• donne = verb
• envie de sourire = what is being given / the desire to smile

So literally:

• The singing of the birds gives me the desire to smile

A more natural English version is:

• Birdsong makes me want to smile.

A careful approximation is:

luh shahn day zwah-zoh muh don ahn-vee duh soo-reer

A few helpful points:

• Le is usually a light luh
• chant has a nasal vowel, roughly shahn
• des oiseaux links smoothly: day zwah-zoh
• me often sounds like muh
• envie sounds like ahn-vee
• sourire sounds like soo-reer

In real speech, French flows together quite smoothly, especially between des oiseaux.