Attendre To Wait (For)

Attendre—to wait (for)—is a  regular Fench  -re  verb. There are five main kinds of verbs in French: In addition to re, the other four are  -er,  -ir,  stem-changing, and irregular. The smallest category of regular French verbs is the group of  -re verbs, such as  attendre. The verb form that ends in -re  is called the infinitive. In English, the infinitive is the verb preceded by the word to. In French, by contrast,  -re  is the infinitive ending. The verb with the infinitive ending removed is called the stem or radical. To conjugate -re verbs, remove the infinitive ending to find the stem and add the endings listed in the tables below. Conjugating  Attendre The tables contain the conjugations for the present, future, imperfect, and simple past tenses for  attendre, as well as the present participle, subjunctive, conditional, and imperative  moods. You can memorize the conjugations as they are listed in these tables or simply learn the general rules for conjugating regular French  -re  verbs and then scan the tables to double check your knowledge and accuracy.   Present Future Imperfect Present Participle j attends attendrai attendais attendant tu attends attendras attendais il attend attendra attendait nous attendons attendrons attendions vous attendez attendrez attendiez ils attendent attendront attendaient Pass compos Auxiliary verb avoir Past participle attendu Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive j attende attendrais attendis attendisse tu attendes attendrais attendis attendisses il attende attendrait attendit attendt nous attendions attendrions attendmes attendissions vous attendiez attendriez attendtes attendissiez ils attendent attendraient attendirent attendissent Imperative (tu) attends (nous) attendons (vous) attendez Verb conjugation pattern Attendre is a regular -re verb Note that to  conjugate  attendre,  or any regular-re  verb  in the present tense, you remove the infinitive ending and then add the appropriate endings.  When conjugating  attendre  or any other regular  -re  verb in the conditional, drop the silent e and add the conditional endings, as shown in the second table above. Using Attendre in Everday Fench It may help you in your studies to see how  attendre  is used in normal French conversation. The table of suggested sentences below, from  duolingo,  provides a few examples. Following the table, read on for explanations of the conjugation for each sentence. Example Translation Jattends mes enfants. I am waiting for my children. Le tigre attend le repas. The tiger is waiting for the meal. Ils ont attendu leur professeur. They waited for their teacher. Je sais que je dois attendre mon tour. I know that I have to wait for my turn. The first sentence is an example of a conjugation for  j   (I), so you would use the  conjugation for the first-person singular. In the second sentence,  tigre   (tiger) is the subject. Simply substitute  il  (he) for  tigre, and use the third-person singular conjugation. The third sentence features  ils  (they) as the subject, so you would use the conjugation for the third-person plural. The fourth sentence also contains a first-person singular subject. But, in this case, you would use  je  (I) instead of  j. This is because in French when  je  is followed with a word beginning with a vowel—as in  Jattends  mes  enfants—you omit  the e.  By contrast, when  je  is followed by a consonant—as in  Je sais que je doiss attendre mon tour—retain the e,  giving you  Je sais  (I know) in this sentence.