Nous venons d’arriver au camping, et Marie installe la tente pendant que je sors le réchaud.

Venir de + infinitive is a very common French structure meaning to have just done something.

So:

• Nous venons d’arriver = We have just arrived

It does not literally mean we come from arriving in normal English. It is an idiomatic tense-like structure used for the recent past.

Other examples:

• Je viens de manger = I just ate / I’ve just eaten
• Elle vient de partir = She just left / She’s just left

Because de becomes d’ before a vowel sound.

Since arriver starts with a-, French contracts it:

• de + arriver → d’arriver

This is just standard French spelling and pronunciation.

That is exactly how the recent past works in French.

French uses:

• present tense of venir
  • de
    • infinitive

So even though venons is present tense, the whole expression means something happened a moment ago.

• Nous venons d’arriver literally uses the present
• but the meaning is we’ve just arrived

This is normal and very common.

Both can refer to arrival, but they are not identical.

• Nous sommes arrivés = We arrived / We have arrived
• Nous venons d’arriver = We have just arrived

The second one specifically emphasizes that the action happened very recently.

So if you want to stress right now / a moment ago, use venir de + infinitive.

Au camping is the normal idiomatic way to say at the campsite / at the campground in French.

It uses:

• à + le = au

So:

• au camping = at the campsite / to the campsite, depending on context

You might expect dans le camping from English, but French often prefers à / au for places in this kind of expression.

Not exactly.

In French, un camping usually means a campsite / campground / camping site, not the activity itself.

So:

• au camping = at the campsite

If you want to talk about the activity camping, French often uses expressions like:

• faire du camping = to go camping / to do camping

French often uses the simple present tense where English might use the present progressive.

So:

• Marie installe la tente = Marie is setting up the tent

French does have être en train de for to be in the middle of doing something, but it is used only when you really want to emphasize the ongoing action.

So in normal narration, installe is perfectly natural.

Here, installer la tente means to set up the tent or to pitch the tent.

The verb installer has a general meaning of to install / set up / put in place. In camping context, it naturally means getting the tent ready.

So:

• Marie installe la tente = Marie is setting up the tent

Pendant que means while.

It connects two actions happening at the same time:

• Marie installe la tente
• je sors le réchaud

So the idea is:

• Marie sets up the tent while I take out the camping stove

It is a very common way to talk about simultaneous actions.

Yes, but here it is just the present tense: je sors = I take out / I am taking out.

The verb sortir can have different uses:

1. Intransitive: to go out / to leave

   • Je sors = I’m going out

2. Transitive: to take something out

   • Je sors le réchaud = I take out the stove

Here it is clearly transitive, because it has a direct object:

• le réchaud

In compound past tenses, sortir may use être or avoir depending on how it is used:

• Je suis sorti = I went out
• J’ai sorti le réchaud = I took out the stove

Le réchaud is a camping stove or portable stove.

In this sentence, it is the stove used for cooking at the campsite.

So:

• je sors le réchaud = I take out the camping stove

Because Marie is a proper name, and proper names normally do not take an article in standard French.

But la tente and le réchaud are common nouns, so they normally need articles:

• la tente = the tent
• le réchaud = the stove

French uses articles much more regularly than English, so leaving them out would usually be incorrect.

French often uses the present tense to describe actions happening right now, especially in everyday situations and narration.

Here the scene is immediate and current:

• Nous venons d’arriver = we’ve just arrived
• Marie installe la tente = Marie is setting up the tent
• je sors le réchaud = I’m taking out the stove

In English, you may naturally translate some of these with have just arrived or is setting up, but French often stays with simpler present-tense forms or fixed expressions.

Yes. Depending on context, sortir can mean:

• take out
• bring out
• get out

So je sors le réchaud could be translated as:

• I take out the camping stove
• I get the camping stove out
• I bring out the camping stove

The exact English choice depends on style, but the French meaning is the same.