How to Say ‘I'm waiting at the school gate.’ in French
J'attends au portail de l'école.
zh ah-tohn oh por-tie duh l ay-kol
[zh ah-tohn oh por-tie duh l ay-kol]
💬 Usage Tip: Le portail is the gate. J'attends = 'I'm waiting.' The apostrophe in J'attends replaces je before a vowel.
🇫🇷 In France: The portail is a key school-life word in France—lots of parent conversations happen right there.
Phrase Breakdown
J'
[zh]
I
J' is the shortened form of je, meaning 'I', used before a vowel sound.
Quand on me pose la question, je réponds : J'attends au portail de l'école.
When someone asks me, I reply: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
attends
[ah-tohn]
am waiting
Attends comes from attendre, meaning 'to wait'; here it means 'I am waiting'.
À la sortie, je dis : J'attends au portail de l'école.
At pick-up time, I say: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
au
[oh]
at the
Au is a contraction of à + le, meaning 'at the' or 'to the'.
Je précise : J'attends au portail de l'école.
I specify: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
portail
[por-tie]
gate
Portail means 'gate', especially the main entrance gate of a school or building.
Je dis souvent : J'attends au portail de l'école.
I often say: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
de
[duh]
of
De means 'of' or 'from' and links nouns together.
Pour être claire, je dis : J'attends au portail de l'école.
To be clear, I say: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
l'
[l]
the
L' is the shortened form of le or la before a vowel sound; here it means 'the'.
Je réponds calmement : J'attends au portail de l'école.
I reply calmly: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
école
[ay-kol]
school
École means 'school', a very common word in school-gate conversations.
Tous les jours, je peux dire : J'attends au portail de l'école.
Every day, I can say: 'I'm waiting at the school gate.'
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