Learn Hardcore French: Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon. - Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk while the cars stay stuck in a traffic jam.

Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon.

Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk while the cars stay stuck in a traffic jam.

Breakdown of Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon.

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Questions & Answers about Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon.

Why is les used before piétons and voitures? Can’t we just say piétons and voitures without the article?

In French, you almost always need an article in front of a noun, even when English doesn’t use one.

Les piétons, les voitures here mean “pedestrians” / “cars” in general.
French uses the definite article (le, la, les) for general statements far more than English does.

Examples:

Les chiens aiment jouer. → “Dogs like to play.” (general)
Les Français boivent du vin. → “French people drink wine.”

So Les piétons marchent… = “Pedestrians walk…” (speaking generally).
Saying just Piétons marchent… is ungrammatical in standard French.

Why is it marchent and not something like vont or se promènent? What’s the nuance of marcher?

All three exist, but they’re not the same:

marcher = to walk, focusing on the physical act of walking.
- Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir. → They are walking, moving forward on foot.
aller à pied = to go on foot (emphasis on the mode of transport).
- Je vais au travail à pied. → I go to work on foot.
se promener = to stroll / go for a walk, often leisurely.
- Ils se promènent dans le parc. → They’re strolling in the park.

In your sentence, we just describe what pedestrians are doing physically in traffic context, so marcher is the most neutral and logical choice.

Why is it sur le trottoir and not dans la rue or something with a different preposition?

sur = on / on top of → correct for trottoir (sidewalk):
- marcher sur le trottoir = walk on the sidewalk.
dans = in / inside:
- marcher dans la rue = walk in the street (in the roadway).

The sentence emphasizes that pedestrians are where they’re supposed to be: on the sidewalk (not in the traffic lane). So sur le trottoir is the natural preposition.

Some common patterns:

sur la plage – on the beach
sur la route – on the road (physically on the surface)
dans la rue – in the street (inside the space of the street)

Why le trottoir and not un trottoir?

Le trottoir here refers to “the sidewalk” in that street situation – the specific sidewalk that belongs to that road context.

un trottoir would mean “a (random/unspecified) sidewalk.”
le trottoir = “the sidewalk (of this street / in this scene).”

French very often uses le / la / les when English uses “the” or has no article at all.

Compare:

Les enfants jouent dans la cour. → “Children are playing in the yard.” (the yard that’s contextually obvious)

What does pendant que mean exactly, and how is it different from pendant on its own?

pendant (alone) is a preposition: “for / during”
- noun.
- pendant la nuit – during the night
- pendant deux heures – for two hours
pendant que is a conjunction: “while”
- subject + verb.
- Pendant que je cuisine, tu mets la table. – While I cook, you set the table.
- Les piétons marchent… pendant que les voitures restent bloquées… – Pedestrians walk… while the cars stay stuck…

So you use:

pendant + noun
pendant que + subject + verb

You cannot say pendant les voitures restent bloquées; you must say pendant que les voitures restent bloquées.

Could we replace pendant que with alors que or tandis que? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, but with a nuance:

pendant que = while, neutral, just indicates simultaneity.
alors que / tandis que = while / whereas, often add a sense of contrast or opposition.

In your sentence:

Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon.
→ Simplely: both things are happening at the same time.
… alors que / tandis que les voitures restent bloquées…
→ Adds: in contrast to that, the cars are stuck. It subtly emphasizes the contrast between moving pedestrians and immobile cars.

All three are grammatically correct here; pendant que is the most neutral.

Why do we say restent bloquées and not just sont bloquées? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:

sont bloquées = are (stuck) → simple state
restent bloquées = remain / stay stuck → emphasizes duration, that they continue to be stuck.

So:

Les voitures sont bloquées dans un bouchon. – The cars are (currently) stuck in a traffic jam.
Les voitures restent bloquées dans un bouchon. – The cars stay / keep being stuck in a traffic jam (and it’s ongoing).

In your sentence, restent adds the idea that, while pedestrians keep moving, the cars keep remaining stuck.

Why is bloquées feminine plural? Where does the agreement come from?

Bloquées is an adjective here (not a past participle with a direct object), and it must agree with the noun it describes:

les voitures = feminine plural (la voiture → une voiture, des voitures)
therefore: bloquées = feminine plural

Patterns:

masculine singular: bloqué
feminine singular: bloquée
masculine plural: bloqués
feminine plural: bloquées

So we get:

Le camion est bloqué.
La voiture est bloquée.
Les camions sont bloqués.
Les voitures sont bloquées.

In your sentence, restent bloquées = “remain stuck,” with bloquées matching les voitures.

What exactly does un bouchon mean here? Isn’t un bouchon also a cork?

Yes, un bouchon has two main meanings:

a cork / stopper (for a bottle, a sink, etc.)
- un bouchon de liège – a cork made of corkwood
- un bouchon de bouteille – a bottle cork
a traffic jam (informal but extremely common)
- Il y a un bouchon sur l’autoroute. – There is a traffic jam on the highway.

In your sentence, dans un bouchon clearly means “in a traffic jam.”
You could also hear:

un embouteillage – a traffic jam (more formal/standard, but also very common).

Why is it dans un bouchon and not en bouchon or something else?

For traffic jams, French idiomatically uses dans:

être dans un bouchon – to be in a traffic jam
être dans les embouteillages – to be in (the) traffic jams

Dans here has its usual meaning of “inside / within a space”: the cars are inside the congested area.

You would not say en bouchon for this meaning. En bouchon might be understood literally as “in cork form” (e.g. vin en bouchon makes no sense). For traffic, stick to:

dans un bouchon / dans les embouteillages.

What are the genders of piéton, trottoir, voiture, and bouchon?

un piéton – masculine
- feminine: une piétonne
- plural masculine: des piétons (can refer to a mixed group)
un trottoir – masculine
une voiture – feminine
un bouchon – masculine

In your sentence:

Les piétons → masculine plural (general pedestrians, potentially mixed genders)
le trottoir → masculine singular
les voitures → feminine plural
un bouchon → masculine singular

This is why we get:

Les voitures restent bloquées (feminine plural agreement).

Is the French present tense here describing something happening right now, or a general habit?

The présent de l’indicatif in French can cover both:

An action happening right now
- Les piétons marchent sur le trottoir pendant que les voitures restent bloquées…
  → “The pedestrians are walking… while the cars are stuck…” (right now).
A general or habitual situation
- Same sentence can also be read as a typical situation:
  → “Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk while cars get stuck in traffic jams.”

French doesn’t need a separate -ing form the way English does.
Context will tell you whether it is right now or generally true.