Je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui.

It is a common French expression meaning to cook or to do the cooking.

Word for word, it looks like to do the cuisine, but that is not how English expresses it. So you should learn faire la cuisine as a set phrase.

In French, many expressions use an article where English would not. Faire la cuisine is one of those fixed expressions.

So French says faire la cuisine, not just faire cuisine.

Here, la cuisine does not literally mean the kitchen. In this expression, it refers to cooking as an activity.

Yes. Je cuisine aujourd’hui is also correct and natural.

The difference is mostly one of style and nuance:

• Je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui = I’m doing the cooking today
• Je cuisine aujourd’hui = I’m cooking today

The version with faire la cuisine can sometimes suggest responsibility for the meal a bit more strongly, while cuisiner is a more direct verb for cooking.

Because the verb is faire and the subject is je.

Present tense of faire:

• je fais
• tu fais
• il/elle/on fait
• nous faisons
• vous faites
• ils/elles font

So Je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui uses the correct je form: fais.

French only contracts je to j’ before a vowel sound or a silent h.

For example:

• j’aime
• j’habite

But fais starts with a pronounced consonant sound, so you keep je:

• je fais

In fast spoken French, je may sound reduced, but in writing it stays je.

A rough pronunciation is:

zhuh feh la kwee-zeen oh-zhoor-dwee

A few key points:

• je sounds like zhuh
• fais sounds like feh
• the final s in fais is silent
• cuisine sounds like kwee-zeen
• aujourd’hui sounds roughly like oh-zhoor-dwee

There is no special liaison between fais and la.

Usually it means I’m cooking today or I’m doing the cooking today.

The French present tense can cover several English ideas:

• I cook
• I am cooking
• I do cook

Here, aujourd’hui makes the time frame clear: today.

So the sentence usually refers to what is happening or is planned for today, not necessarily this exact second.

Yes. French allows some flexibility with time expressions.

For example:

• Je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui.
• Aujourd’hui, je fais la cuisine.

Both are natural.

The second version puts more emphasis on today.

That is just the standard spelling of the word. You should learn it as one complete expression: aujourd’hui.

Historically, it comes from older elements meaning something like on the day of today, but for learners the important thing is simply:

• it is always written aujourd’hui
• the apostrophe is part of the normal spelling

You put ne ... pas around the conjugated verb:

Je ne fais pas la cuisine aujourd’hui.

In everyday spoken French, people often drop ne, so you may hear:

Je fais pas la cuisine aujourd’hui.

But in standard written French, use ne ... pas.

A few common ways:

• Est-ce que je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui ?
• Je fais la cuisine aujourd’hui ?
• Fais-je la cuisine aujourd’hui ?

The most common in everyday speech are:

• Est-ce que...
• rising intonation with the normal word order

The inversion form Fais-je... ? is grammatical, but it is less common in ordinary conversation.

Yes, it is very common and completely natural in standard French.

You will often hear things like:

• J’aime faire la cuisine.
• Qui fait la cuisine ce soir ?
• Je n’ai pas le temps de faire la cuisine.

So this sentence is a very useful model for everyday French.