Dans un grand saladier, Marie prépare la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes.

French often puts a place expression at the beginning of a sentence to set the scene. Here, Dans un grand saladier means In a large bowl and tells you where the action happens before naming the person and the action.

You could also say:

Marie prépare la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes dans un grand saladier.

That version is also correct. Starting with Dans un grand saladier just gives a slightly more natural, descriptive flow.

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, but some very common ones often come before it. Grand is one of those common adjectives.

So:

• un grand saladier = a big bowl

This is normal French word order. A learner will often notice that size adjectives like grand, petit, gros, and some others frequently go before the noun.

Prépare is the third-person singular present tense form of préparer.

The subject is Marie, which is she / Marie, so the verb must match that subject:

• je prépare = I prepare / I am preparing
• tu prépares = you prepare
• il/elle prépare = he/she prepares

So Marie prépare means Marie prepares or Marie is preparing, depending on context.

French often uses the definite article where English might use a or no article at all. Here, la pâte refers to the specific dough being made for this tart.

So la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes means the dough for an apple tart/pie.

Using une pâte would sound more like some dough / a dough, introducing it less specifically. In this sentence, la pâte is the natural choice because it refers to the particular dough involved in the recipe.

D’une comes from de + une.

French usually shortens de to d’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

So:

• de une becomes d’une

That is why you get:

• la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes

The same thing happens in many other expressions:

• l’ami from le ami
• j’aime from je aime

In French, many food names use à to show what something is made with or filled with.

So:

• tarte aux pommes = apple tart / apple pie
• glace à la vanille = vanilla ice cream
• tarte au citron = lemon tart

Here, aux is the combination of à + les:

• à + les = aux

Because pommes is plural, French says aux pommes.

So une tarte aux pommes is the standard French way to say an apple tart/pie.

French and English package this idea differently.

In French, the filling ingredient is often expressed more literally as with apples, so the plural makes sense:

• une tarte aux pommes = a tart with apples

English uses apple like an adjective in apple pie, but French does not do that here. It keeps pommes as a normal plural noun.

They do two different jobs:

• d’une tarte links la pâte to the tart:
  the dough of / for a tart
• aux pommes describes what kind of tart it is:
  an apple tart

So the structure is:

• la pâte = the dough
• d’une tarte = of/for a tart
• aux pommes = with apples

Together:

la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes = the dough for an apple tart

Sometimes, yes. Tarte aux pommes is literally apple tart, but depending on context, English may translate it as apple pie. That is a vocabulary choice between the two languages, not a grammar change in the French sentence.

The French structure stays the same:

la pâte d’une tarte aux pommes

Whether English chooses tart or pie depends on the style of translation and what kind of dessert is meant.