Les enfants veulent monter sur la falaise, mais je préfère rester près des dunes jusqu’à ce que la marée descende.

In French, you usually need an article before a noun.

• les enfants = the children
• just enfants by itself would usually sound incomplete in a normal sentence

French uses articles more often than English, especially with everyday nouns. So even when English might be a little more flexible, French normally wants le / la / les / un / une / des.

Veulent is the 3rd person plural present of vouloir (to want).

So:

• je veux = I want
• tu veux = you want
• il/elle veut = he/she wants
• nous voulons = we want
• vous voulez = you want
• ils/elles veulent = they want

It is irregular, so it does not follow the pattern of a regular -er, -ir, or -re verb. In this sentence, les enfants veulent means the children want.

Monter sur means to go up onto or to climb up onto something.

So:

• monter sur la falaise = to go/climb up onto the cliff

Monter does not always mean a difficult physical climb. It often just means moving upward. Depending on context, it can be translated as:

• go up
• climb up
• get onto

If you wanted to emphasize a more difficult climb, French might also use grimper or even escalader in some contexts.

Because sur means on or onto, while à usually means at or to.

Compare:

• monter sur la falaise = climb/go up onto the cliff
• aller à la falaise = go to the cliff
• être à la falaise is not the natural way to say be at the cliff

Here the idea is not just going to the cliff, but going up onto its surface or top area, so sur is the right preposition.

French normally uses an article before a noun, even when English might sound more natural without emphasizing it.

So French says:

• sur la falaise
• près des dunes
• la marée

rather than dropping the article.

Here la falaise means the cliff. It refers to the cliff in the situation being described, not just the idea of cliffs in general.

Because préférer can be followed directly by an infinitive.

Pattern:

• préférer + infinitive

So:

• je préfère rester = I prefer to stay
• elle préfère attendre = she prefers to wait
• nous préférons partir = we prefer to leave

English uses to stay, but in French the infinitive comes directly after préférer with no extra preposition.

Because près is used with de, and de + les contracts to des.

Step by step:

• près de = near
• les dunes = the dunes
• près de les dunes becomes près des dunes

This is a required contraction.

Other examples:

• près du village = near the village (de + le = du)
• près de la mer = near the sea
• près des rochers = near the rocks

Because jusqu’à is used before a noun or time expression, but jusqu’à ce que is used before a whole clause.

Compare:

• jusqu’à midi = until noon
• jusqu’à demain = until tomorrow
• jusqu’à ce que la marée descende = until the tide goes down

So if what follows has its own subject and verb, French uses jusqu’à ce que.

Also, jusqu’à que is not correct standard French. The fixed expression is jusqu’à ce que.

Because jusqu’à ce que normally requires the subjunctive.

So:

• jusqu’à ce que la marée descende

Here descende is the present subjunctive of descendre.

French uses the subjunctive after certain conjunctions, and jusqu’à ce que is one of the most common ones. The idea is that the action is still pending or not yet completed from the speaker’s point of view.

So a learner should remember:

• jusqu’à ce que + subjunctive

Examples:

• jusqu’à ce qu’il arrive = until he arrives
• jusqu’à ce que nous finissions = until we finish
• jusqu’à ce que la marée descende = until the tide goes down

Yes. In French, la marée descend is a normal way to say the tide goes down.

You will often see:

• la marée monte = the tide comes in / rises
• la marée descend = the tide goes out / falls

So descendre here is not strange or overly literal. It is a natural French way to describe the tide lowering.

This is a common spelling-and-pronunciation change in some -er verbs.

The infinitive is:

• préférer

But in many present-tense forms, the first é changes to è:

• je préfère
• tu préfères
• il/elle préfère
• ils/elles préfèrent

But:

• nous préférons
• vous préférez

This kind of stem change is very common in French and usually reflects pronunciation.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• près des dunes = near the dunes
• à côté des dunes = beside/right next to the dunes

So près de is a bit broader and less exact. It means nearby, not necessarily immediately next to. In this sentence, près des dunes sounds very natural because it suggests staying in the area of the dunes without insisting on exact position.