À la quincaillerie, nous achetons une poignée et quelques vis pour la cuisine.

This phrase sets the scene: À la quincaillerie means at the hardware store or in the hardware store.

French often puts a place phrase at the beginning of a sentence to show context first. The comma helps separate that opening detail from the main clause:

À la quincaillerie, nous achetons...

You could also say:

Nous achetons une poignée et quelques vis à la quincaillerie.

Both are correct. The first version just emphasizes the location a bit more.

À is very commonly used with shops and public places to mean at or to:

• à la boulangerie
• à la pharmacie
• à la quincaillerie

Using dans would focus more literally on being physically inside the store. That is possible in some contexts, but à la quincaillerie is the normal everyday way to say at the hardware store.

Une quincaillerie is a hardware store.

The word quincaillerie can also refer more generally to hardware, metal fittings, or small household metal goods, but in this sentence it clearly means the shop.

It is a feminine noun, which is why the sentence uses la:

• la quincaillerie

Nous achetons is the present tense of acheter, which means to buy.

So:

• nous achetons = we buy or we are buying, depending on context

French simple present often covers both the English simple present and present progressive.

Conjugation of acheter in the present:

• j’achète
• tu achètes
• il / elle achète
• nous achetons
• vous achetez
• ils / elles achètent

A useful thing to notice: the spelling changes to è in some forms, but not in nous and vous.

French usually does not need a separate form like English are buying.

The present tense nous achetons can mean:

• we buy
• we are buying

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

If French speakers want to stress that something is happening right now, they can use:

• être en train de

For example:

• Nous sommes en train d’acheter une poignée et quelques vis.

But in ordinary speech, the simple present is usually enough.

Une poignée most commonly means a handle, a knob, or a grip, depending on context.

In this sentence, since the setting is a hardware store and the items are for the kitchen, une poignée probably means something like:

• a door handle
• a cabinet handle
• a drawer pull

Be careful: une poignée can also mean a handful in other contexts.

For example:

• une poignée de riz = a handful of rice

So this word has more than one meaning, and context matters.

Yes. Poignée is a feminine noun, so it takes une:

• une poignée

French nouns have grammatical gender, and the article must match:

• masculine: un
• feminine: une

You just have to learn the gender along with the noun.

Quelques vis means a few screws or some screws.

Quelques is a determiner meaning a few or some when the number is small or unspecified.

So:

• quelques vis = a few screws

You do not add des after quelques. The determiner quelques already does the job.

Compare:

• des vis = some screws / screws in general
• quelques vis = a few screws / a small number of screws

The noun vis is one of those French words whose singular and plural are spelled the same:

• une vis = one screw
• des vis / quelques vis = screws

In writing, the determiner tells you whether it is singular or plural. In speech, the surrounding words usually make it clear.

Yes. Pour la cuisine means for the kitchen.

It most naturally applies to the items being bought:

• they are buying a handle and a few screws for the kitchen

In other words, the handle and screws are intended for something in the kitchen, such as a cabinet, drawer, or door.

It does not usually mean in order to cook here. Because the objects are hardware items, the meaning is clearly about the room.

French uses articles much more often than English does.

So where English may say:

• for the kitchen

French says:

• pour la cuisine

This is very normal. In French, rooms, places, and general nouns often need an article:

• la cuisine
• la maison
• le jardin

Yes, very often in everyday spoken French.

Instead of:

• Nous achetons une poignée et quelques vis...

people often say:

• On achète une poignée et quelques vis...

In modern spoken French, on is extremely common for we.
Nous is still completely correct, and it may sound a bit more formal or careful.

If you place À la quincaillerie at the beginning as an introductory phrase, the comma is very natural and standard:

• À la quincaillerie, nous achetons...

It helps show that the location phrase is separate from the main clause.

If the place comes later, you usually would not use a comma:

• Nous achetons une poignée et quelques vis à la quincaillerie.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• quelques sounds like kelk
• vis sounds like vee

So:

• quelques vis is roughly kelk vee

Also note that in careful speech, quelques ends with a consonant sound here, but there is no extra article between the two words.

Yes, very normal.

The core structure is:

• nous achetons = subject + verb
• une poignée et quelques vis = direct object
• pour la cuisine = purpose/destination/use phrase

So the full sentence is straightforward:

• location first for context
• then subject + verb
• then what is being bought
• then what it is for

That makes it a very natural French sentence.