Après tout cela, nous passons chez le libraire, puis nous rentrons avec des fleurs, du saumon et une autre photocopie du bail.

Après tout cela means after all that or after all this.

A learner might notice:

• après = after
• tout cela = all that

So the phrase sets the time sequence for everything that follows.

In more informal French, you could also hear Après tout ça.

• cela is a bit more neutral or formal
• ça is more everyday spoken French

Both are possible in French, but they are not exactly the same.

• chez le libraire = at the bookseller’s place/shop
• à la librairie = at the bookshop

Chez is often used for:

• people’s homes: chez Paul
• professionals or shopkeepers: chez le médecin, chez le boulanger, chez le libraire

So passer chez le libraire often sounds like stop by the bookseller’s.

Not usually. In this kind of context, passer chez quelqu’un / chez un commerçant often means:

• to stop by
• to drop in
• to go by

So nous passons chez le libraire is better understood as we stop by the bookseller’s rather than simply we pass in the physical sense.

French passer has many uses, and this is a very common one.

Yes. This is a very important one.

• un libraire = a bookseller
• une librairie = a bookshop
• a library = une bibliothèque

So le libraire is not a librarian and not a library. It is the person who sells books.

French often uses the present tense to describe:

• a routine
• a sequence of events
• a narrated scene
• directions or an itinerary

So here the present can sound like:

• this is what we do
• this is what happens next

It does not have to mean only right now at this exact second. English can do something similar in storytelling: First we stop by the bookstore, then we go home...

Puis means then.

It links actions in sequence:

1. nous passons chez le libraire
2. puis nous rentrons

It is a simple connector showing what happens next.

Compared with other connectors:

• puis = then
• ensuite = next / afterwards
• et puis = and then

All can mark sequence, but puis is very common and neat in written French.

Here nous rentrons means something like:

• we go back
• we return
• we head home

Rentrer often means returning to where you came from, especially home.

So nous rentrons avec des fleurs... means we come back / go home with flowers...

It does not usually mean entering a place for the first time. It has the idea of returning.

Avec simply means with.

In nous rentrons avec des fleurs, du saumon..., it tells you what they are bringing back with them.

So the structure is:

• rentrer avec quelque chose = to come back with something

Very straightforward:

• avec des fleurs = with flowers
• avec du saumon = with some salmon

This is about different kinds of articles.

• des fleurs: plural, countable noun

  • flowers are individual items
  • des = some

• du saumon: singular mass noun / uncountable idea

  • salmon here is treated like food/substance
  • du = some

• une autre photocopie: singular, countable noun

  • one photocopy
  • une = a
  • autre = other / another

So French is distinguishing between:

• countable plural things: des fleurs
• uncountable food/substance: du saumon
• one specific additional item: une autre photocopie

Because autre normally comes before the noun in this meaning.

• une autre photocopie = another photocopy

Here:

• photocopie is feminine singular
• so the article is une
• autre stays autre

This is the normal word order in French.

You can think of it as:

• une photocopie = a photocopy
• une autre photocopie = another photocopy

Du here is the contraction of de + le.

• le bail = the lease
• de le bail becomes du bail

So:

• une photocopie du bail = a photocopy of the lease

This is just the normal French contraction:

• de + le = du
• de + les = des

Also, bail is a masculine noun, which is why it is le bail.

Yes, in everyday spoken French, many speakers would naturally say:

Après tout ça...

That would sound more informal and conversational.

So the difference is mainly register:

• tout cela = slightly more formal or neutral
• tout ça = more casual spoken French

Both are correct, and both mean the same thing here.