happen in the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary

Translations for happen in the English»French Dictionary

happen [Brit ˈhap(ə)n, Am ˈhæpən] VB intr

1. happen (occur):

happen

arriver, se passer, se produire

when/where/how did it happen?

quand/où/comment est-ce arrivé?, quand/où/comment cela s'est-il passé or produit?

what's happening?

qu'est-ce qui se passe?

the accident happened yesterday

l'accident est arrivé or s'est produit hier

I wonder what will happen next

je me demande ce qui va arriver or se passer maintenant

we must make sure this never happens again

nous devons faire en sorte que cela ne se reproduise jamais

you cannot expect the change to happen overnight

ne t'attends pas à ce que le changement se produise du jour au lendemain

so much has happened since our last meeting

il s'est passé tant de choses depuis notre dernière rencontre

he reacted as if nothing had happened

il a réagi comme si de rien n'était

whatever happens, don't get out of the car

quoi qu'il arrive, ne sors pas de la voiture

it had to happen , it was bound to happen Brit

ça devait arriver

miracles do happen!

les miracles, ça arrive!

it may happen that …, it can happen that …

il arrive parfois que …

how does it happen or how can it happen that such problems are ignored?

comment se fait-il qu'on ne prête pas attention à de tels problèmes?

success doesn't just happen!

le succès n'arrive pas comme ça!

anything might happen!

on peut s'attendre à tout!

she's the sort of person who makes things happen

elle fait bouger les choses

2. happen (befall):

to happen to sb

arriver à qn

the worst thing that can happen to a man like him is

la pire chose qui puisse arriver à un homme comme lui, c'est

old age/death is something that happens to us all

la vieillesse/la mort nous attend tous

3. happen (occur by chance):

there happens/happened to be a free parking space

il se trouve qu'il y a/qu'il y avait une place libre

we happened to be there when she appeared

nous nous trouvions là par hasard quand elle est arrivée

it so happens that I have an example right here

il se trouve que j'ai un exemple juste ici

as it happened, the weather that day was bad

il s'est trouvé qu'il faisait mauvais ce jour-là

if you happen to see her say hello

si par hasard tu la vois, salue-la de ma part

do you happen to have his phone number?

aurais-tu par hasard son numéro de téléphone?

4. happen (materialize):

happen

arriver

the promised reforms never happened

les réformes promises ne sont jamais arrivées

5. happen (go wrong, cause harm):

happen

arriver

if anything happens to Dinah, I shall never forgive myself

s'il arrive quoi que ce soit à Dinah, je ne me le pardonnerai jamais

do you think anything will happen?

penses-tu qu'il va arriver quelque chose?

6. happen (become of):

happen

devenir

what will happen to the children?

que deviendront les enfants?

what happened to all those fine promises?

que sont devenues toutes ces belles promesses?

7. happen (used indignantly, assertively):

he just happens to be the best actor in Britain!

il se trouve que c'est le meilleur acteur de Grande-Bretagne!

sorry, but I happen to disagree

désolé, mais je ne suis pas d'accord

I.happen on VB [Brit ˈhap(ə)n -, Am ˈhæpən -] (happen on [sth])

happen on object:

happen on

trouver [qc] par hasard, tomber sur [qc]

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

opportunely happen, come along

au moment opportun

suddenly happen

tout à coup, tout d'un coup

unexpectedly happen

à l'improviste

to be optimistic that sth will happen

avoir grand espoir que qc arrivera

nightly occur, happen

de nuit

monthly happen, visit, publish

tous les mois, une fois par mois

Translations for happen in the French»English Dictionary

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

(inévitablement) ça devait mathématiquement arriver

it was bound to happen

il était fatal que cela se produise

it was bound to happen

happen in the PONS Dictionary

Translations for happen in the English»French Dictionary

I.happen [ˈhæpən] VB intr

happen

arriver

to happen to sb

arriver à qn

whatever happens

quoi qu'il arrive

to happen again

se reproduire

II.happen [ˈhæpən] VB trans

it happens that ...

il se trouve que ...

to happen to do sth

faire qc par hasard

I happen to do sth

il se trouve que je fais qc

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

to happen with increasing frequency

arriver de plus en plus fréquemment

accidents will happen

ce sont des choses qui arrivent

it was an accident waiting to happen

cela devait forcément arriver

sth is bound to happen

qc va certainement se produire

it was bound to happen sooner or later

cela devait arriver tôt ou tard

it tends to happen that

il arrive souvent que +subj

Translations for happen in the French»English Dictionary

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

se reproduire (se répéter)

to happen again

advenir

to happen

aïe aïe aïe, qu'est-ce qu'on va devenir?

oh dear, what's going to happen to us?

tâcher que qc (ne) se produise (pas)

to ensure that sth (does not) happen

il est inévitable que cela se produise

it is inevitable that it will happen

happen Examples from the PONS Dictionary (editorially verified)

it can happen sooner than you think

ça peut se produire plus tôt que ce que tu penses

to be anxious for sth/for sth to happen

avoir un fort désir de qc/que qc arrive

it was an accident waiting to happen

cela devait forcément arriver

to happen once in a lifetime

n'arriver qu'une seule fois dans la vie

that was bound to happen one day

cela devait arriver un jour

to happen just at the right moment

tomber à point

it is fated that that will happen

il est écrit que cela arrivera

is it going to happen before midnight?

c'est pour aujourd'hui ou pour demain? inf

to happen at just the right moment

tomber à pic

it is inevitable that it will happen

il est inévitable que cela se produise

Monolingual examples (not verified by PONS Editors)

English

This is a celebration of what really can happen for every school in the country and beyond - every hospital, every old people's home, every business.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The audio-visual equipment allows reporters to both write about and film stories as they happen, and the articles can be published on-line within seconds.

en.wikipedia.org

Each repetition of the events of a certain story makes the story happen more easily.

en.wikipedia.org

To my way of thinking, the ordeal was necessary to make certain it would never happen again.

en.wikipedia.org

These systems of fissures that make up a rift zone allow this to happen more easily.

en.wikipedia.org

And if you happen to have pulled a pedant for punctuation -- well, you've really blown it.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Close to the equator they happen around the autumnal equinox and the vernal equinox; farther from the equator they happen closer to the winter solstice.

en.wikipedia.org

No candy, gum or lip balm, through which radiation would be ingested if an "incident" were to happen.

www.lfpress.com

But now due to water shortage this not happen.

en.wikipedia.org

It's also a game that's not afraid to humanise its soldiers, then show that bad things happen to them.

www.pocket-lint.com