FYW 208 : How to say “What happened?” and more: “arriver” vs “se passer” in French
Listener and student Yaniv asked me to clarify the meaning and use of the French verbs "arriver" and "se passer". In this episode, you'll see that, although both verbs have a similar meaning, the structure of the sentence is quite different!
Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode
ARRIVER = (sth) happens (to sb)
"that happened to me" = Ca m'est arrivé
Something incredible will happen to you if you believe in it = Quelque chose d'incroyable t'arrivera/vous arrivera si tu y crois / si vous y croyez.
Accidents happen = Les accidents arrivent (à tout le monde).
Something happens = quelque chose se passe
quelque chose se passe bien/mal = Something goes well/badly
Les vacances se passent bien.
I hope your interview will go well = j'espère que ton entretien se passera bien / va bien se passer.
Everything went well = Tout s'est bien passé
"Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ?" = what happened?
"How did it go?" ="Comment ça s'est passé?"
LINKS and RESOURCES!
FYW 014 : Oops I ate all the lollies – how to pronounce "Tous": frenchyourway.com.au/podcast14
FYW 165: French verbs: how to choose between ETRE and AVOIR (compound tenses, part 2): frenchyourway.com.au/podcast165
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