Attendre — to wait (for) | French Verb Chart

🇬🇧 Attendre in plain English: the -re model that never attends

Attendre — to wait (for) — is the model citizen of the third group’s regular -re wing: j’attends, tu attends, il attend (bare stem, no ending — the -re family signature), nous attendons, vous attendez, ils attendent. Imparfait j’attendais, futur j’attendrai, subjonctif que j’attende, participle attendu — j’ai attendu. Its pattern-mates are the everyday -endre/-ondre squad: vendre (sell), entendre (hear), répondre (answer), descendre, perdre, rendre — memorise attendre and they all conjugate themselves (only prendre and its double-n family defect from the pattern). Grammar gift: attendre takes its object DIRECTLY — « j’attends le bus », no preposition — where English waits FOR; one less word, one classic anglicism avoided.

Two upgrades complete the verb. S’attendre à = to expect: « je m’attendais à mieux » (I expected better) — the reflexive turning waiting into anticipation, and the source of « comme il fallait s’y attendre » (as was to be expected), French’s official told-you-so. And en attendant — “meanwhile / in the meantime” — the gerund as connective tissue: en attendant, on mange. The false-friend warning earns repeating because it strikes weekly: attendre NEVER means to attend — attending a class is assister à un cours or suivre un cours. Drill at any bus stop in France: j’attends le bus, je l’attends depuis dix minutes, je ne m’attendais pas à ça — patience and grammar, conjugated together.