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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