Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante, la petite lui fait un câlin.

Chaque fois que means every time or each time.

In this sentence:

Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante, la petite lui fait un câlin.

the first part, Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante, sets up the situation: every time she sees her aunt.

A very common pattern in French is:

Chaque fois que + clause, main clause

For example:

• Chaque fois qu’il pleut, je reste à la maison.
  = Every time it rains, I stay home.

So here, the sentence means that this is a habitual action, not a one-time event.

This is because of elision.

In French, que becomes qu’ before a word that begins with a vowel sound, such as elle.

So:

• que elle → qu’elle

This is very common:

• qu’il
• qu’on
• qu’elle
• qu’ils

It is done for smoother pronunciation and is required in standard French spelling.

Voit is the third person singular present tense form of voir (to see).

The subject is elle, so the verb must match that subject:

• je vois
• tu vois
• il / elle voit
• nous voyons
• vous voyez
• ils / elles voient

So qu’elle voit sa tante means when she sees her aunt or every time she sees her aunt.

French often uses the present tense to talk about things that happen regularly, habitually, or generally.

Here, the sentence is not describing one specific moment. It describes a repeated pattern:

Every time she sees her aunt, the little girl gives her a hug.

So the present tense works naturally in both French and English for this kind of meaning.

Yes, sa tante can mean her aunt, but it can also mean his aunt depending on context.

A key point for English speakers is that French possessive adjectives agree with the thing possessed, not with the owner.

Since tante is a feminine singular noun, French uses:

• mon / ma
• ton / ta
• son / sa

So:

• sa tante = his aunt / her aunt

Here, from the context, it means her aunt.

La petite literally means the little one or the little girl.

In context, it refers to a young girl, probably a child. French often uses adjectives like petit / petite as nouns when the meaning is clear.

So:

• le petit = the little boy / the little one
• la petite = the little girl / the little one

Here, la petite is the subject of the main clause: la petite lui fait un câlin.

Here, lui means to her.

The expression is:

faire un câlin à quelqu’un
= to give someone a hug

So the aunt is not the direct object; she is the indirect object.

That is why French uses the indirect object pronoun lui:

• Je lui fais un câlin. = I give her/him a hug.

If you used elle, that would be a stressed pronoun, not the normal object pronoun needed here.

So:

• la petite lui fait un câlin = the little girl gives her a hug

In French, object pronouns usually come before the conjugated verb.

So instead of something like:

• la petite fait un câlin à sa tante

you can replace à sa tante with lui:

• la petite lui fait un câlin

This word order is very normal in French:

• Je lui parle.
• Il me voit.
• Nous les connaissons.

So lui is placed before fait because it is an object pronoun.

French often uses the expression:

faire un câlin (à quelqu’un)
= to give someone a hug / to cuddle someone

This is a very common, natural way to express affection.

French does have the verb embrasser, but that usually means to kiss, not to hug, so English speakers must be careful.

There is also serrer dans ses bras, which can mean to hug, but faire un câlin is very common in everyday speech, especially with children.

So:

• la petite lui fait un câlin = the little girl gives her a hug

The comma separates the introductory clause from the main clause.

Structure:

• Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante = introductory time clause
• la petite lui fait un câlin = main clause

So the comma helps make the sentence easier to read:

Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante, la petite lui fait un câlin.

In English, we often do the same: Every time she sees her aunt, the little girl gives her a hug.

Here it takes the indicative, which is why you have elle voit.

That is because chaque fois que introduces something seen as real, factual, or habitual. It is talking about an event that regularly happens.

So:

• Chaque fois qu’elle voit sa tante...
  not
• Chaque fois qu’elle voie sa tante...

The subjunctive is generally not used after chaque fois que in normal cases like this.

A few parts may be tricky for English speakers:

• Chaque sounds roughly like shak
• fois sounds like fwah
• qu’elle sounds like kel
• voit sounds like vwah
• lui is tricky: roughly lwee
• câlin sounds roughly like ka-lan with a nasal ending

A smooth pronunciation of the whole sentence is approximately:

shak fwah kel vwah sa tant, la puh-teet lwee fay uh ka-lan

That is only an approximation, but it can help you get started. The biggest things to notice are:

• the contraction in qu’elle
• the sound of voit
• the French ui sound in lui