Learn French: Nous y voyons des piétons attendant au carrefour. - We see pedestrians waiting at the intersection there.

Nous y voyons des piétons attendant au carrefour.

We see pedestrians waiting at the intersection there.

Breakdown of Nous y voyons des piétons attendant au carrefour.

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

des

some (plural indefinite)

to the / at the (masculine singular)

voir

to see

Questions & Answers about Nous y voyons des piétons attendant au carrefour.

How does attendant replace a relative clause here?

Attendant is the present participle of attendre (to wait). In this sentence, it replaces the relative clause qui attendent (who are waiting). You can say des piétons qui attendent or des piétons attendant; both mean the same thing, but using the present participle is a bit more formal and concise.

Since piétons is plural, shouldn't attendant have an s at the end?

No, and this is a very important rule! When a present participle ending in -ant is used as a verb to replace a relative clause, it is invariable. This means it never changes its ending to match masculine, feminine, singular, or plural forms.

Why is y placed before the verb voyons?

In French, the pronoun y (meaning there in this context) almost always goes directly before the conjugated verb it belongs to. Even though we say 'We see pedestrians there' in English, the French structure is literally 'We there see' (Nous y voyons).

Why do we use au before carrefour?