Learn Hardcore French: Nous attendons dans la salle d'urgence.

You can say nous sommes en train d'attendre for strong emphasis on “we are in the middle of waiting right now”, but it’s less common and often unnecessary. In everyday speech, nous attendons is the normal way to say we are waiting.

Why is it just attendons and not attendons pour like wait for?

In French, attendre already includes the idea of “for”. So:

attendre quelqu’un = to wait for someone
attendre quelque chose = to wait for something

You do not add pour in this sense.
Examples:

Nous attendons le médecin. = We are waiting for the doctor.
J’attends le bus. = I’m waiting for the bus.

Using attendre pour here would be incorrect or would change the meaning.

What is the full infinitive form of attendons, and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive is attendre (a regular -re verb).

Present tense conjugation:

j’attends – I wait / I am waiting
tu attends – you wait (singular, informal)
il / elle / on attend – he / she / one waits
nous attendons – we wait
vous attendez – you wait (plural or formal)
ils / elles attendent – they wait

Note:

The -d is silent in attends, attend, attendent.
In attendons and attendez, you hear the d.

Can attendre also mean to expect in French?

Yes. Attendre can mean both:

to wait (for)
- Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence.
  We are waiting in the emergency room.
to expect
- Je m’attends à une longue attente.
  I expect a long wait.
- Nous nous attendons à des nouvelles demain.
  We expect news tomorrow.

When it means to expect, you very often see the reflexive form s’attendre à + noun/verb.

Why is it dans la salle d’urgence and not à la salle d’urgence?

dans = in / inside (physically inside a space)
à = at / to (more general location or direction)

Here, the idea is that you are inside the emergency room, so dans is natural:

Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence.
We are waiting in the emergency room.

Compare:

Je suis à l’hôpital. – I am at the hospital (general location).
Je suis dans la salle d’attente. – I am in the waiting room (inside a specific room).

What does salle d’urgence literally mean, and why is it d’urgence?

Literally:

salle = room
urgence = emergency
salle d’urgence = emergency room

The d’ comes from de:

salle de urgence → the e of de disappears before a vowel → salle d’urgence

This is called elision:
de + urgence → d’urgence

In real life, French speakers also very often say:

la salle d’urgences
les urgences (as a standalone noun: the ER / the emergency department)
le service des urgences (the emergency department service)

Why is it la salle and not le salle?

Because salle is a feminine noun in French:

une salle – a room
la salle – the room
dans la salle d’urgence – in the emergency room

There is no specific reason you can “guess” from the ending here; you mostly have to learn the gender with the noun:

une salle de classe – a classroom
une salle d’attente – a waiting room
une salle de bain(s) – bathroom

Could you also say On attend dans la salle d’urgence instead of Nous attendons?

Yes, very naturally.

Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence.
On attend dans la salle d’urgence.

Both can mean We are waiting in the emergency room.

Differences:

nous is the “standard” written form.
on is extremely common in spoken French for “we”.

In conversation, French people say on much more often than nous for we.

Is the word order in Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence fixed, or can it change?

Basic word order:

[Subject] + [Verb] + [Rest of the sentence]

So:

Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence.

You could also put the location first for emphasis:

Dans la salle d’urgence, nous attendons.

That sounds a bit more formal or literary, but it’s grammatically correct.
You normally wouldn’t split dans la salle d’urgence in the middle or insert it between nous and attendons.

How is Nous attendons dans la salle d’urgence pronounced, especially the tricky parts?

Key points:

Nous attendons → /nu za.tɑ̃.dɔ̃/
- Liaison: the s in nous links to attendons, sounding like z: nouz-attendons.
- -ons in attendons is a nasal sound, not “on” + “s”.
dans → /dɑ̃/
- Final -s is silent. Another nasal vowel.
la salle → /la sal/
- Both l sounds are clear; both a are open “ah”.
d’urgence → /dyʁ.ʒɑ̃s/
- d’ is linked to urgence.
- ur = a French “u” /y/ then r: a tight lip “ee” + French r.
- Final -e is silent; -nce gives a nasal ɑ̃s sound.

Said at normal speed, it flows roughly as:

Nouz-attendons dans la sal dyʁʒɑ̃s.