J’attends le bus depuis cinq minutes.

Because je becomes j’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

• je attends → j’attends
• The apostrophe replaces the dropped e

French does this often for smoother pronunciation:

• j’aime
• j’habite
• j’écoute

With depuis + a length of time, French usually uses the present tense when the action started in the past and is still continuing now.

So:

• J’attends le bus depuis cinq minutes. = I have been waiting for the bus for five minutes.

Even though English often uses the present perfect continuous, French keeps the present.

A useful rule:

• depuis
  • action still happening → present tense

Here, depuis means for in the sense of for the last... and still now.

So depuis cinq minutes means:

• for five minutes so far
• the waiting began five minutes ago
• it is still continuing

This is different from some other time expressions:

• depuis cinq minutes = for five minutes, and still happening
• pendant cinq minutes = for five minutes, as a completed duration
• il y a cinq minutes = five minutes ago

Le bus means the bus, not just any bus.

In this sentence, the speaker is usually waiting for a specific bus:

• the bus they expect
• the bus they need to take
• the next bus on their route

French often uses the definite article in places where English learners may wonder if it should be indefinite. Here, le bus sounds natural because it refers to a known or expected thing.

Because attendre takes a direct object in French.

So you say:

• attendre le bus = to wait for the bus

Not:

• attendre pour le bus

This is a very common difference from English. Other examples:

• J’attends mon ami. = I’m waiting for my friend.
• Elle attend son tour. = She’s waiting for her turn.

So when using attendre, do not automatically translate English for.

Attends comes from the verb attendre (to wait).

Here it is in the present tense:

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

In your sentence, j’attends means I wait / I am waiting.

The final -s in attends is not pronounced.

So j’attends sounds roughly like:

• zhah-tahn

Very roughly, the whole sentence sounds like:

• zhah-tahn luh byus duh-pwee sank mee-nut

A few pronunciation notes:

• j’ sounds like the s in measure
• attends has a nasal vowel at the end
• depuis is pronounced duh-pwee
• in careful speech, cinq is usually sank before minutes

Yes. French word order can be flexible here.

These are both natural:

• J’attends le bus depuis cinq minutes.
• Depuis cinq minutes, j’attends le bus.

The second version puts more emphasis on the time expression.

In everyday speech, the original order is very common and neutral.

Yes. That is one of the key things this sentence tells you.

J’attends le bus depuis cinq minutes implies:

• the waiting started five minutes ago
• the waiting is still going on now

If the action were finished, French would normally use a different structure, for example:

• J’ai attendu le bus pendant cinq minutes. = I waited for the bus for five minutes.

That sounds like the waiting is viewed as completed.

Yes. A very common alternative is:

• Ça fait cinq minutes que j’attends le bus.

Literally, this is something like:

• It has been five minutes that I’ve been waiting for the bus

Natural English:

• I’ve been waiting for the bus for five minutes.

Both are common:

• J’attends le bus depuis cinq minutes.
• Ça fait cinq minutes que j’attends le bus.

The first one is a little more direct and compact; the second one is also extremely natural in conversation.