attendre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French atendre, from Latin attendere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.tɑ̃dʁ/

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• Rhymes: -ɑ̃dr

Verb

attendre

1. (transitive) to wait for, to await

   Je l’attends. ― I'm waiting for her/him.

   J’attends mon cousin à la gare.

   I'm waiting for my cousin at the station.

2. to expect

   On attendait mieux de toi.

   We expected better from you.

3. (reflexive, followed by à) to expect

   Je m’attendais à pire. ― I expected worse.

   Il s’attend à ce que tu viennes ce soir.

   He expects you to come tonight.

   Pourquoi est-ce que je me suis attendu à ce que vous ayez la gentillesse de me laisser tranquille ?

   Why did I expect you to be nice enough to leave me in peace?

4. (Louisiana) Alternative form of entendre, to hear

   Quand t’étais petit, t’attendais le français à la Messe ou a l’église?

   When you were little, would you hear French at Mass or at church?

Usage notes

• This is a false friend in French, and does not mean “to attend” under any circumstances.

Conjugation

Conjugation of attendre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	attendre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	attendant /a.tɑ̃.dɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		attendu /a.tɑ̃.dy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	attends /a.tɑ̃/	attends /a.tɑ̃/	attend /a.tɑ̃/	attendons /a.tɑ̃.dɔ̃/	attendez /a.tɑ̃.de/	attendent /a.tɑ̃d/
	imperfect	attendais /a.tɑ̃.dɛ/	attendais /a.tɑ̃.dɛ/	attendait /a.tɑ̃.dɛ/	attendions /a.tɑ̃.djɔ̃/	attendiez /a.tɑ̃.dje/	attendaient /a.tɑ̃.dɛ/
	past historic2	attendis /a.tɑ̃.di/	attendis /a.tɑ̃.di/	attendit /a.tɑ̃.di/	attendîmes /a.tɑ̃.dim/	attendîtes /a.tɑ̃.dit/	attendirent /a.tɑ̃.diʁ/
	future	attendrai /a.tɑ̃.dʁe/	attendras /a.tɑ̃.dʁa/	attendra /a.tɑ̃.dʁa/	attendrons /a.tɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/	attendrez /a.tɑ̃.dʁe/	attendront /a.tɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	attendrais /a.tɑ̃.dʁɛ/	attendrais /a.tɑ̃.dʁɛ/	attendrait /a.tɑ̃.dʁɛ/	attendrions /a.tɑ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	attendriez /a.tɑ̃.dʁi.je/	attendraient /a.tɑ̃.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	attende /a.tɑ̃d/	attendes /a.tɑ̃d/	attende /a.tɑ̃d/	attendions /a.tɑ̃.djɔ̃/	attendiez /a.tɑ̃.dje/	attendent /a.tɑ̃d/
	imperfect2	attendisse /a.tɑ̃.dis/	attendisses /a.tɑ̃.dis/	attendît /a.tɑ̃.di/	attendissions /a.tɑ̃.di.sjɔ̃/	attendissiez /a.tɑ̃.di.sje/	attendissent /a.tɑ̃.dis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	attends /a.tɑ̃/	—	attendons /a.tɑ̃.dɔ̃/	attendez /a.tɑ̃.de/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• attendre au tournant
• attendre cent sept ans
• attendre comme le Messie
• attendre famille
• attendre son heure
• attendre un heureux événement
• attendu que
• ne perdre rien pour attendre
• tout vient à point à qui sait attendre

 

Further reading

• “attendre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• datèrent, dénatter

Norman

Etymology

From Old French atendre, borrowed from Latin attendere, present active infinitive of attendō.

Verb

attendre

1. (Jersey) to wait
2. (Guernsey, reflexive, s'attendre) to expect