Pendant la grève, nous attendons à bord du car de remplacement.

Pendant means during. It introduces a time period and tells you when the action happens.

So:

• pendant la grève = during the strike

This phrase is often placed at the beginning of the sentence to give the time setting first, but it could also come later:

• Nous attendons à bord du car de remplacement pendant la grève.

That is grammatically fine too, though the original version sounds a bit more natural as a setup.

La grève uses the definite article because it refers to a specific strike that both speaker and listener are understood to know about.

Compare:

• la grève = the strike
• une grève = a strike

In context, transport disruption is usually caused by a particular known strike, so la grève is the natural choice.

Nous attendons is the 1st person plural form of attendre, meaning we wait or we are waiting.

The verb is conjugated like this in the present tense:

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

So nous attendons simply matches the subject nous = we.

It can mean either, depending on context.

French often uses the simple present where English prefers the present continuous:

• nous attendons = we wait / we are waiting

In this sentence, English would most naturally say we are waiting, but French does not need a special continuous form here.

If you really want to emphasize the ongoing action in French, you could say:

• nous sommes en train d’attendre

But that is not necessary in the original sentence.

That is a very common question.

Yes, attendre often takes a direct object:

• J’attends le bus. = I’m waiting for the bus.
• Nous attendons Paul. = We’re waiting for Paul.

But it can also be used without an object when the thing or person being waited for is not stated or is not important:

• Nous attendons. = We are waiting.

That is what happens here. The sentence focuses more on where the people are waiting than on what they are waiting for.

À bord de means on board.

It is used for being aboard a vehicle or vessel, especially when you want to sound slightly formal or emphasize that someone is inside/on it as a passenger.

Examples:

• à bord du train = on board the train
• à bord de l’avion = on board the plane
• à bord du navire = on board the ship

So:

• à bord du car = on board the coach/bus

In everyday speech, French might also simply use dans in many contexts, but à bord de is perfectly natural and a bit more specific.

Because de + le contracts to du in French.

So:

• à bord de le car → à bord du car

This kind of contraction is mandatory.

Other common contractions:

• de + les = des
• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

So du car is just the correct contracted form of de le car.

Not exactly.

In French, un car usually means a coach or long-distance bus, not the ordinary city bus.
A regular city bus is usually un bus.

So:

• un bus = city bus
• un car = coach / long-distance or replacement coach

In transport-disruption contexts, car de remplacement is very common for a replacement road vehicle used instead of a train or another service.

De remplacement means replacement or used as a substitute.

Literally, it is something like of replacement, but in English we usually turn that into a more natural adjective:

• un car de remplacement = a replacement coach/bus

You see this structure a lot in French:

• lunettes de soleil = sunglasses
• salle d’attente = waiting room
• voiture de police = police car

So de + noun often works like an adjectival description in English.

Because in the structure car de remplacement, the noun remplacement is part of a fixed descriptive phrase after de.

French often uses:

• noun + de + noun

without an article when the second noun describes the function or type of the first noun.

So:

• car de remplacement = a coach for replacement purposes
• salle de classe = classroom
• table de cuisine = kitchen table

If you added an article, it would usually change the meaning or sound less idiomatic here.

Yes, it could.

• dans le car de remplacement = in the replacement coach
• à bord du car de remplacement = on board the replacement coach

Both are possible, but à bord de sounds a bit more transport-specific and slightly more formal. It is especially common in announcements, travel contexts, and descriptions involving vehicles.

So the original phrasing is natural and well chosen.

It is not absolutely required, but it is very natural.

The comma separates the introductory time phrase from the main clause:

• Pendant la grève, nous attendons à bord du car de remplacement.

This makes the sentence easier to read. In shorter sentences, French punctuation can sometimes be flexible, but the comma here is standard and helpful.