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

In a large mixing bowl, Marie prepares the dough for an apple tart.

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

• Marie: Marie
• la pomme: the apple
• grand: big, great, large
• dans: in

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

What does saladier mean here? Is it literally a salad bowl?

Yes, saladier literally means salad bowl, but in everyday cooking French it can also mean a large mixing bowl. In this sentence, un grand saladier is simply the big bowl Marie is using to prepare the dough.

Why does the sentence start with Dans un grand saladier?

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.

Why is it un grand saladier and not un saladier grand?

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.