Learn French: Ce bouchon, nous le subissons pendant tout le trajet ! - This traffic jam, we endure it during the whole trip!

Ce bouchon, nous le subissons pendant tout le trajet !

This traffic jam, we endure it during the whole trip!

Breakdown of Ce bouchon, nous le subissons pendant tout le trajet !

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

this (before a noun)

him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)

tout

all, everything

Questions & Answers about Ce bouchon, nous le subissons pendant tout le trajet !

Why is there a le in nous le subissons if we already mentioned Ce bouchon?

This is the "left dislocation" structure from this lesson. By moving the object (Ce bouchon) to the front of the sentence to emphasize it as the topic, it gets disconnected from the main clause. To keep the grammar intact, you must add the direct object pronoun (le) right before the verb to refer back to that fronted noun.

I thought un bouchon meant a cork. Why does it mean "traffic jam" here?

You are right about the original meaning! In everyday French, un bouchon is the most common colloquial way to say "a traffic jam" because the cars are "corked" or stopped up. You will also frequently hear the slightly more formal word un embouteillage (which literally means a "bottling up").

How does subir differ from souffrir, since they can both mean "to suffer"?

Subir means to endure, undergo, or be subjected to something forced upon you (like traffic, an exam, or a difficult change). Souffrir is used for actual physical or emotional pain. You souffrez from a broken leg, but you subissez a massive traffic jam.

Could I just say pendant tout trajet instead of pendant tout le trajet?