Je t’attends depuis midi.

Te becomes t’ before a vowel sound to make pronunciation smoother.

• te attends would sound awkward in French
• so it becomes t’attends

This is called elision.

Compare:

• Je te vois
• Je t’attends

The meaning is still you as a direct object.

In French, object pronouns like me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les usually go before the conjugated verb.

So:

• Je t’attends = I’m waiting for you / I have been waiting for you

Not:

• Je attends te ❌

This is a very common French pattern:

• Je te connais
• Il me voit
• Nous l’aimons

Because French uses the present tense with depuis for an action that:

1. started in the past
2. is still continuing now

So:

• Je t’attends depuis midi literally uses the present tense
• but in English, the natural translation is often I have been waiting for you since noon

This is one of the most important differences between English and French time expressions.

Here, depuis means since.

Because midi is a specific starting point in time, depuis midi = since noon.

More generally:

• depuis + point in time = since
• depuis + length of time = for

Examples:

• depuis midi = since noon
• depuis lundi = since Monday
• depuis deux heures = for two hours

The infinitive is attendre, meaning to wait (for).

In Je t’attends, attends is the 1st person singular present form:

• j’attends = I wait / I am waiting

A few present-tense forms:

• j’attends
• tu attends
• il/elle attend
• nous attendons
• vous attendez
• ils/elles attendent

Notice that the -s in j’attends is written but normally not pronounced.

Yes. In French, attendre is usually used without a separate word for for before a direct object.

So:

• attendre quelqu’un = to wait for someone
• Je t’attends = I’m waiting for you

English needs for, but French does not here.

This is why Je t’attends is correct, not something like Je t’attends pour. ❌

French normally uses clock times and parts of the day like this without an article after depuis.

So you say:

• depuis midi = since noon
• depuis minuit = since midnight

That is just the normal time expression.

You would not say:

• depuis le midi ❌

A careful pronunciation is roughly:

zhuh tah-tahn duh-pwee mee-dee

More precisely in IPA: /ʒə ta.tɑ̃ də.pɥi mi.di/

A few notes:

• Je often sounds light, and in fast speech the e may weaken
• t’attends links smoothly because t’ is attached directly to attends
• the final -s in attends is silent
• midi is pronounced mee-dee

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Je t’attends depuis midi = I’ve been waiting for you since noon
• J’attends depuis midi = I’ve been waiting since noon

Without t’, you no longer specify who you are waiting for.

So the version with t’ is more precise.

They express different ideas:

• depuis midi = since noon, starting at noon and continuing until now
• à midi = at noon, a single point in time

Compare:

• Je t’attends depuis midi = I have been waiting for you since noon
• Je t’attends à midi = I’m waiting for you at noon / I’ll wait for you at noon

So depuis shows duration continuing from a starting point, while à just gives a time.

Not in this sentence if the waiting is still going on now.

• depuis is used when the action started in the past and is still continuing
• pendant is used for a completed duration or a planned duration

So:

• Je t’attends depuis midi = I’ve been waiting for you since noon and I’m still waiting
• Je t’ai attendu pendant deux heures = I waited for you for two hours

Using pendant here would change the meaning.

Usually yes. Midi is normally written with a lowercase m when it means noon.

So:

• depuis midi

It is not treated like an English proper noun such as Monday. In French, days and many time words are usually not capitalized unless they begin a sentence.