Quand la gouttière est bouchée, l’eau tombe trop près de la porte.

Here quand means when or whenever.

It introduces a time clause:

• Quand la gouttière est bouchée = When the gutter is clogged

In a sentence like this, with the present tense, it often has a general meaning:

• When/Whenever the gutter is clogged, the water falls too close to the door.

So this is not necessarily about one single event; it can describe what usually happens.

Yes, in this sentence, lorsque would also work.

• Quand la gouttière est bouchée...
• Lorsque la gouttière est bouchée...

Both mean when.

The difference is mostly style:

• quand is very common and everyday
• lorsque is a bit more formal or literary

For normal spoken French, quand is usually the more natural choice.

La gouttière is a gutter on a house: the channel along the edge of the roof that carries rainwater away.

It is a feminine noun, which is why it takes la:

• la gouttière

So in this sentence, it refers to the house gutter, not a metaphorical meaning.

Because gouttière is feminine singular, and bouchée agrees with it.

• la gouttière = feminine singular
• bouché / bouchée = blocked / clogged

So:

• le tuyau est bouché = the pipe is clogged
• la gouttière est bouchée = the gutter is clogged

The extra -e marks feminine agreement.

It is a past participle of boucher (to block, to clog), but in this sentence it functions like an adjective or part of a passive-style structure.

So est bouchée literally looks like:

• is blocked
• is clogged

Learners often do not need to worry too much about the label here. The important point is:

• after être, it agrees with the noun
• gouttière is feminine, so bouchée

Because French uses elision before a vowel sound.

Eau starts with a vowel, so la becomes l’:

• la porte
• l’eau

You cannot say la eau in standard French.

This happens with several articles and pronouns:

• le ami → l’ami
• la école → l’école
• je aime → j’aime

Because tombe is the conjugated verb, while tomber is the infinitive.

The subject is l’eau, which is third-person singular, so the verb must match it:

• l’eau tombe = the water falls

Present tense of tomber:

• je tombe
• tu tombes
• il/elle tombe
• nous tombons
• vous tombez
• ils/elles tombent

So tombe is the correct form for l’eau.

French often uses the present tense to describe a general truth, a repeated situation, or something that usually happens.

So this sentence means something like:

• When the gutter gets clogged, the water falls too close to the door
• Whenever the gutter is clogged, the water falls too close to the door

This is very natural in both French and English for general statements.

Près means near or close.

Trop près means too close or too near.

So:

• près de la porte = near the door
• trop près de la porte = too close to the door

Here trop modifies près, just like English too modifies close.

Because près is followed by de.

The fixed structure is:

• près de = near / close to

So you say:

• près de la porte
• près du mur
• près des fenêtres

Notice the contractions:

• de + le = du
• de + les = des

But there is no contraction with la, so:

• près de la porte

not près la porte

A rough guide is:

• gouttière ≈ goo-tee-AIR

More exactly in IPA:

• gouttière = /ɡu.tjɛʁ/

A few notes:

• ou sounds like English oo in food
• tiè here sounds roughly like tyair
• the final r is the French r, not an English one

Roughly:

• bouchée ≈ boo-SHAY
• eau ≈ oh
• près ≈ preh

IPA:

• bouchée = /bu.ʃe/
• eau = /o/
• près = /pʁɛ/

Useful pronunciation points:

• eau is a very common spelling for the oh sound
• ée at the end of bouchée sounds like ay
• près has an open è sound, not the same as pré in spelling

The comma separates the introductory time clause from the main clause:

• Quand la gouttière est bouchée, = introductory clause
• l’eau tombe trop près de la porte. = main clause

This is very similar to English punctuation.

In French, the comma is common and natural here, especially because the quand clause comes first.