Les voyageurs attendent à bord.

Les is the plural definite article in French, meaning the.

So les voyageurs = the travelers.

French usually requires an article where English sometimes might not. You generally cannot just say voyageurs attendent in normal French.

The -s marks the noun as plural.

• un voyageur = a traveler
• les voyageurs = the travelers

The adjective or verb around it often changes too, so French makes plurality visible in several places.

Attendent is the 3rd person plural form of attendre in the present tense, because the subject is les voyageurs, which is plural.

Present tense of attendre:

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

Since les voyageurs corresponds to ils (they), the correct form is attendent.

No. In this verb form, the final -ent is not pronounced.

So attendent sounds essentially like attend in speech.

This is very common in French:

• il attend
• ils attendent

These are spelled differently, but they sound the same in many accents.

Because les voyageurs is already the subject.

French needs a subject, but that subject can be:

• a pronoun: Ils attendent
• or a noun phrase: Les voyageurs attendent

You do not normally say Les voyageurs ils attendent in standard neutral written French, though forms like that can appear in spoken French for emphasis.

À bord means on board.

It is a fixed expression used for being on a vehicle or vessel such as:

• a ship
• a train
• a plane
• a bus

So Les voyageurs attendent à bord means the travelers are waiting on board rather than outside or elsewhere.

Because à bord is a fixed expression.

Here, bord does not mean the edge in the ordinary literal sense. The whole phrase à bord functions idiomatically as on board.

Compare:

• à bord du train = on board the train
• à bord = on board

By contrast, au bord de usually means at the edge of:

• au bord de la mer = at the seaside / at the edge of the sea

So à bord and au bord de are different expressions.

Usually, no, not if you mean on board in the normal travel sense.

French strongly prefers à bord for this idea.

• à bord du train
• à bord de l’avion
• à bord du bateau

Using sur would often sound like being physically on top of something, not traveling inside it or as a passenger.

Yes, there is normally a liaison between voyageurs and attendent.

So it is pronounced roughly like:

les voyageurs-z-attendent

That z sound comes from the normally silent final -s in voyageurs before a following vowel sound.

Roughly: vwah-yah-ZHUR

A few useful points:

• voi- sounds like vwa
• -ageur has the soft j sound, like the s in measure
• the final -s is normally silent, unless there is liaison before a vowel

So in isolation:

• voyageurs → final s silent

But in voyageurs attendent, the liaison makes it sound like a z before attendent.

Yes. Attendre can be used on its own when the meaning is simply to wait.

So:

• Les voyageurs attendent. = The travelers are waiting.
• Les voyageurs attendent à bord. = The travelers are waiting on board.

If you want to say what they are waiting for, you add it directly:

• Les voyageurs attendent le départ. = The travelers are waiting for departure.

Notice that French uses attendre + noun directly, without a word for for in that structure.

The word order is the standard French order:

subject + verb + place expression

• Les voyageurs = subject
• attendent = verb
• à bord = where they are waiting

This is very similar to English:

• The travelers
  • are waiting
    • on board

French often follows this straightforward order in simple statements.