At the End of a Duration
To express that an event happens "at the end of" or "after" a specific period of time, use the prepositional phrase au bout de followed by a duration. Literally meaning "at the end of," it emphasizes the passage of time leading up to an outcome.
| At the end of ten minutes, the ringtone annoyed me so much that I hung up. | Au bout de dix minutes, la sonnerie m'a tellement énervé que j'ai raccroché. |
Remember that de contracts to d' before a vowel, such as in une heure.
| At the end of an hour of waiting, the customer begins to grow impatient and sigh. | Au bout d'une heure d'attente, le client commence à s'impatienter et à soupirer. |
Losing Patience
Because au bout de draws attention to the length of a wait or an ongoing situation, it is heavily used when talking about dwindling patience and reaching a breaking point.
You will frequently see it paired with vocabulary describing annoyance (l'agacement) and verbs like râler (to grumble or complain), craquer (to crack), céder (to yield or give in), and supporter (to tolerate or stand).
| She hid her annoyance, but at the end of two hours, she started to grumble. | Elle a caché son agacement, mais au bout de deux heures, elle a commencé à râler. |
| At the end of three days of noise, he cracked and gave in. | Au bout de trois jours de bruit, il a craqué et a cédé. |
| At the end of a week, she no longer has the patience to stand this colleague. | Au bout d'une semaine, elle n'a plus la patience de supporter ce collègue. |
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