arriver

English

Etymology

arrive +‎ -er

Noun

arriver (plural arrivers)

1. One who arrives; usually, one who arrives in a specified way.

   Synonyms: arrival, arrivant

   • 2007 January 7, “Gerard Beekman and Michael Kaminsky”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Mr. Kaminsky tells precisely the same story — except with Mr. Beekman as the late arriver.

Translations

one who arrives

• French: arrivant (fr) m arrivante (fr) f
• Portuguese: chegante m or f

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French arriver, from Old French ariver, from Early Medieval Latin adrīpāre. Synchronically a- +‎ rive +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ʁi.ve/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

arriver

1. to arrive (often followed by a location)

   On est arrivés à Paris vers 9 heures. ― We arrived in Paris around 9 o'clock.

   Ils sont arrivés avant moi. ― They got there before me.

   Je n’arriverai pas à temps pour voir le début du film. ― I won't arrive in time to see the start of the film.

2. (impersonal) to happen (unlike other translations of happen, can be used with an indirect object to specify something/somebody affected by the action; it may also be used with a relative clause in the subjunctive)

   Ça ne m’arrive jamais. ― That never happens to me.

   Il arrive souvent qu’il soit en retard. ― It often happens that he is late.

3. (informal) to cope, to manage

   J’ sais pas quoi faire... J’arrive plus. ― I don't know what to do... I can't do it anymore.

4. to be able to, to manage (to do something successfully)

   Synonym: parvenir

   Je suis finalement arrivé à réparer cette porte. ― I finally managed to repair that door.

   Je n’arrive pas à croire que tu manges ce que le médecin t’a prescrit de ne pas manger.

   I can't believe you're eating what the doctor told you not to eat.

1. • 2015, Claude Nativel, Comme le phénix...:

     Je n’avais aucune nouvelle de la situation politique dans notre pauvre pays, je ne savais pas ce que j’allais trouver en y foulant son sol, si nous arrivions à passer la frontière du pays voisin sans nous faire arrêter.

     I had no news of the political situation in our poor country, I didn't know what I would find when I set foot on its soil, if we were able to cross the neighboring country's border without being arrested.

2. to obtain a level of success or fame

Conjugation

Conjugation of arriver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	arriver
	compound	être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	arrivant /a.ʁi.vɑ̃/
	compound	étant + past participle
past participle		arrivé /a.ʁi.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	arrive /a.ʁiv/	arrives /a.ʁiv/	arrive /a.ʁiv/	arrivons /a.ʁi.vɔ̃/	arrivez /a.ʁi.ve/	arrivent /a.ʁiv/
	imperfect	arrivais /a.ʁi.vɛ/	arrivais /a.ʁi.vɛ/	arrivait /a.ʁi.vɛ/	arrivions /a.ʁi.vjɔ̃/	arriviez /a.ʁi.vje/	arrivaient /a.ʁi.vɛ/
	past historic2	arrivai /a.ʁi.ve/	arrivas /a.ʁi.va/	arriva /a.ʁi.va/	arrivâmes /a.ʁi.vam/	arrivâtes /a.ʁi.vat/	arrivèrent /a.ʁi.vɛʁ/
	future	arriverai /a.ʁi.vʁe/	arriveras /a.ʁi.vʁa/	arrivera /a.ʁi.vʁa/	arriverons /a.ʁi.vʁɔ̃/	arriverez /a.ʁi.vʁe/	arriveront /a.ʁi.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	arriverais /a.ʁi.vʁɛ/	arriverais /a.ʁi.vʁɛ/	arriverait /a.ʁi.vʁɛ/	arriverions /a.ʁi.və.ʁjɔ̃/	arriveriez /a.ʁi.və.ʁje/	arriveraient /a.ʁi.vʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of être + past participle
	future perfect	future of être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	arrive /a.ʁiv/	arrives /a.ʁiv/	arrive /a.ʁiv/	arrivions /a.ʁi.vjɔ̃/	arriviez /a.ʁi.vje/	arrivent /a.ʁiv/
	imperfect2	arrivasse /a.ʁi.vas/	arrivasses /a.ʁi.vas/	arrivât /a.ʁi.va/	arrivassions /a.ʁi.va.sjɔ̃/	arrivassiez /a.ʁi.va.sje/	arrivassent /a.ʁi.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	arrive /a.ʁiv/	—	arrivons /a.ʁi.vɔ̃/	arrivez /a.ʁi.ve/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of être + past participle	—	simple imperative of être + past participle	simple imperative of être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• arrivant
• arrivée
• arriver à bon port
• arriver à la cheville
• arriver à la fumée des cierges
• arriver à ses fins
• arriver après la bataille
• arriver comme les carabiniers
• premier arrivé, premier servi

 

Descendants

• → German: arrivieren (“to succeed”)

Further reading

• “arriver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French ariver.

Verb

arriver

1. to arrive

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of arriver

infinitive	simple	arriver
	compound	estre + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	arrivant
	compound	present participle or gerund of estre + past participle
past participle		arrivé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	arrive	arrives	arrive	arrivons	arrivez	arrivent
	imperfect	arrivois, arrivoys	arrivois, arrivoys	arrivoit, arrivoyt	arrivions, arrivyons	arriviez, arrivyez	arrivoient, arrivoyent
	past historic	arriva	arrivas	arriva	arrivasmes	arrivastes	arriverent
	future	arriverai, arriveray	arriveras	arrivera	arriverons	arriverez	arriveront
	conditional	arriverois, arriveroys	arriverois, arriveroys	arriveroit, arriveroyt	arriverions, arriveryons	arriveriez, arriveryez	arriveroient, arriveroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of estre + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of estre + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of estre + past participle
	future perfect	future of estre + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of estre + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	arrive	arrives	arrive	arrivons	arrivez	arrivent
	imperfect	arrivasse	arrivasses	arrivast	arrivassions	arrivassiez	arrivassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of estre + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of estre + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	arrive	—	arrivons	arrivez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of estre + past participle	—	simple imperative of estre + past participle	simple imperative of estre + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: arriver

Norman

Alternative forms

• arrivaïr (Guernsey)

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin adrīpāre. Synchronically a- +‎ rive +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

arriver

1. (Jersey) to arrive

Antonyms

• parti (“to leave”)