L’antiquaire date ce bibelot.

Because French normally drops the vowel of le or la before a word beginning with a vowel sound. This is called elision.

So:

• le antiquaire → l’antiquaire
• la antiquaire → l’antiquaire

That means l’ does not show you the gender by itself here.

It can be either masculine or feminine.

You can say:

• un antiquaire = a male antique dealer
• une antiquaire = a female antique dealer

In this sentence, because of l’, you cannot tell the gender from the article alone. You would need context.

It is a verb, not the noun date.

Here date comes from the verb dater, and it is the third-person singular present tense form:

• je date
• tu dates
• il / elle / on date

So L’antiquaire date ce bibelot has the structure subject + verb + object.

Here dater means to determine the date or period of something.

With objects such as antiques, paintings, manuscripts, or furniture, dater often means working out when it was made or what period it belongs to.

So this is not the everyday English idea of to date someone.

Because bibelot is masculine singular and begins with a consonant sound.

French uses:

• ce before a masculine singular noun beginning with a consonant: ce livre, ce bibelot
• cet before a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel sound or mute h: cet objet, cet homme

Since bibelot starts with b, ce is the correct form.

Yes. In many contexts, ce / cet / cette / ces can mean either this or that in English.

French often does not force the distinction unless it needs to be very clear. If you want to be more explicit, you can add:

• -ci for this
• -là for that

For example:

• ce bibelot-ci = this ornament/object here
• ce bibelot-là = that ornament/object there

So ce bibelot on its own can depend on context.

Bibelot is a masculine singular noun. It refers to a small decorative object, trinket, curio, or knickknack.

Useful forms:

• un bibelot = a bibelot / ornament / trinket
• des bibelots = bibelots / ornaments / trinkets

In this sentence, ce also confirms that the noun is masculine singular.

Because dater takes a direct object.

In French, you simply date something:

• dater un vase
• dater un manuscrit
• dater ce bibelot

So ce bibelot is the direct object of date. French does not need an extra word like of, for, or on here.

It follows a very standard French sentence pattern:

• L’antiquaire = subject
• date = verb
• ce bibelot = direct object

So the order is:

subject + verb + object

This is one of the most common word orders in ordinary French statements.