Au café, Paul et Marie se taquinent souvent, mais ils rient ensemble.

At the café, Paul and Marie often tease each other, but they laugh together.

Breakdown of Au café, Paul et Marie se taquinent souvent, mais ils rient ensemble.

• Paul: Paul
• Marie: Marie
• et: and
• ensemble: together

Questions & Answers about Au café, Paul et Marie se taquinent souvent, mais ils rient ensemble.

Why does the sentence start with Au café instead of Dans le café?

Au café is a very natural French way to mean at the café or in the café / café setting.

• au = à + le
• café here usually means the place, like a café or coffee shop

French often uses à where English might use at or sometimes in.
So:

• Au café, Paul et Marie... = At the café, Paul and Marie...

Dans le café is also possible, but it sounds more specifically physical, like inside the café building. Au café is the more idiomatic everyday phrasing here.

What does se taquinent mean grammatically?

Se taquinent is a pronominal verb form of se taquiner.

Base verb:

• taquiner = to tease

Pronominal form:

• se taquiner = to tease each other / to tease oneself, depending on context

In this sentence, because the subject is Paul et Marie (two people), se taquinent means they tease each other.

So the se here is not really themselves in the English sense. It is understood as each other because the action goes both ways.