Arriver Expressions

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French Phrases Have Arrived

The French verb arriver, “to arrive,” is found in many idiomatic expressions, including to get one’s way, to be completely irrelevant, and to get into trouble. Learn these and dozens of other French expressions featuring arriver.

Arriver translations

• to arrive
• to be on one’s way
• to happen
• to manage to
• to reach

Arriver expressions

arriver à			to reach, get to, attain, arrive at
arriver à + infinitive			to manage to / succeed in doing something
arriver à + time			to arrive at
arriver à + city or masculine country			to arrive in, get to
arriver à bon port			to arrive safe and sound
arriver à destination			to reach/arrive at one’s destination
arriver à grands pas			to stride/walk quickly up
arriver à ses fins			to get one’s way, achieve one’s goals
arriver au port			to dock
	(figurative)		to reach one’s destination
arriver au pouvoir			to come to power
arriver comme mars en carême			to come/happen as sure as night follows day
arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe			to turn up at a very awkward moment, to be completely irrelevant
arriver comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles			to turn up at the worst possible moment, when least wanted/needed
arriver de + city or country			to arrive from
arriver des ennuis à quelqu’un			to get into trouble
arriver en + feminine country			to arrive in, get to
arriver en courant			to run up
arriver en gare			to arrive at the train station
arriver en voiture			to arrive by car
arriver jusqu’à			to reach, get as far as, come/go up to
arriver le premier			to arrive/come in first
arriver par le train			to arrive by train
Allez, arrive !	(informal)		Hurry up! Come on!
Les Anglais sont arrivés	(familiar)		Someone is menstruating
Ça m’arrive.			That happens to me at times.
Ce sont des choses qui arrivent.			These things happen.
Cela peut arriver à n’importe qui.			That could happen to anyone.
Cela ne m’arrivera plus !			That will never happen again!
comme il arrive souvent			as is often the case, as often happens
croire que c’est arrivé	(informal)		to think one has made it / succeeded
en arriver à			to end up, come to
faire arriver			to make something/something happen, show up
Il arrive que + subjunctive			to sometimes happen
Il est arrivé un accident / un malheur.			There’s been an accident / calamity.
Il faudra bien en arriver là.			It’ll come to that eventually.
Il m’arrive de + infinitive			I sometimes …
J’arrive !			I’m coming! I’ll be right back!
Je n’y arrive pas			I can’t do it.
J’y arrive			I’m coming/getting to that
ne pas arriver à + infinitive			to just not be able to
ne pas arriver à la cheville à quelqu’un			to not be able to hold a candle to
Le nouveau est arrivé			It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Day
On arrive !			We’re (almost) there!
On en arrive à se demander si…			It makes you wonder if…
On n’en est pas encore arrivé là !			We haven’t gotten that far yet! It hasn’t come to that yet!
quoi qu’il arrive			whatever happens
se croire arrivé			to think one has made it / succeeded
Tu ne sais pas ce qui m’arrive !			You’ll never guess what happened to me!
Tu y arrives ?			How are you doing?
une arrivée			arrival, coming, appearance
	(utilities)		inlet, inflow
arrivées	(airport)		Arrivals
à l’arrivée			at the finish, in the end
les premiers arrivés			first arrivals

 Related lessons

• Arriver conjugations | Using arriver
• Adverbial pronouns y and en
• Prepositions
• Tu vs vous

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