Après le bain, le bébé bâille, et sa mère lui donne un câlin avant la berceuse.

Because French uses articles much more often than English.

• le bain = the bath / bath time
• le bébé = the baby
• un câlin = a hug / cuddle
• la berceuse = the lullaby

In English, we often drop articles in expressions like after bath or use them more flexibly. In French, a noun usually needs an article unless there is a special reason not to use one.

So Après le bain is natural French, even if English might simply say After his bath or After bath time.

Après is followed here by a noun phrase, and le bain refers to a specific, understood event: the baby's bath.

So:

• après le bain = after the bath / after bath time

You would not normally say après bain in standard French, and après du bain would not fit the meaning here.

This is similar to other common expressions:

• après le dîner = after dinner
• après l’école = after school

French often uses the definite article in these routine-time expressions.

Bâille is pronounced roughly like bahy or buy with a clear y sound at the end.

A helpful point: in bâille, the -ill- gives a y sound.

So:

• bâille sounds roughly like bah-y

Also, the circumflex in â is mostly a spelling marker here. For many modern speakers, it does not create a big pronunciation difference.

Bâiller is the infinitive, meaning to yawn.

Bâille is the conjugated form used with il / elle / on in the present tense:

• je bâille = I yawn / am yawning
• tu bâilles = you yawn
• il / elle bâille = he / she yawns

Since le bébé is singular, the sentence uses bâille.

Because the possessive adjective agrees with the noun being possessed, not with the owner.

Here, the possessed noun is mère, which is feminine, so French uses:

• sa mère = his mother / her mother

Important: sa does not tell you whether the baby is a boy or a girl. It only matches mère, which is feminine.

Compare:

• sa mère = his/her mother
• son père = his/her father

Because donner often works as donner quelque chose à quelqu’un = to give something to someone.

In this sentence:

• un câlin is the thing being given → direct object
• au bébé / à lui is the person receiving it → indirect object

So French uses the indirect object pronoun lui:

• sa mère lui donne un câlin = his/her mother gives him/her a hug

If you used le instead, it would mean the person is the direct object, which is not the structure of donner here.

The order is:

subject + indirect object pronoun + verb + direct object

So:

• sa mère = subject
• lui = to him / to her
• donne = gives
• un câlin = a hug

This is a very common French pattern:

• Je lui parle = I speak to him/her
• Elle lui écrit une lettre = She writes him/her a letter
• Sa mère lui donne un câlin = His/her mother gives him/her a hug

French object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb.

Yes. Donner un câlin is a very natural expression meaning to give a hug / cuddle.

French often uses donner + noun where English might use a simple verb.

You can also find the verb câliner, which means to cuddle or to pamper affectionately, but donner un câlin is extremely common and straightforward.

So in this sentence, donne un câlin is perfectly idiomatic.

Because avant can be followed either by a noun or by a verb structure, depending on what you want to say.

Here, it is followed by a noun:

• avant la berceuse = before the lullaby

If you wanted to say before singing the lullaby, then you would use a verb:

• avant de chanter la berceuse

So:

• avant + noun → avant la berceuse
• avant de + infinitive → avant de chanter

French, like English, often uses the present tense for:

• habitual actions
• general descriptions
• vivid narration

So this sentence can sound like:

• a routine bedtime scene
• a simple description of what is happening

The present tense is very natural here. French does not need a special tense just because these actions happen one after another.

Yes, it can be.

In French, a comma before et is often optional, but writers may use it to separate longer parts of a sentence or to make the rhythm clearer.

Here, the sentence has:

• Après le bain, le bébé bâille
• et sa mère lui donne un câlin avant la berceuse

The comma helps mark the first idea clearly. It is not strange at all.

In short:

• comma after Après le bain: very natural
• comma before et: possible for clarity and rhythm, though not always required