survenir
French
Etymology
From sur- + venir.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /syʁ.və.niʁ/
Audio (file)
Verb
survenir
- to occur
- to happen unexpectedly
- (of a person) to appear, arrive (unexpectedly)
- Un loup survient à jeun, qui cherchait aventure
- A wolf on an empty stomach appeared, looking for adventure
- (Jean de la Fontaine)
Conjugation
This is a verb in a group of -ir verbs. All verbs ending in -venir, such as convenir and devenir, are conjugated this way. Such verbs are the only verbs whose the past historic and subjunctive imperfect endings do not start in one of these thematic vowels (-a-, -i-, -u-).
Conjugation of survenir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | survenir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | être + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | survenant /syʁ.və.nɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | étant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | survenu /syʁ.və.ny/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | surviens /syʁ.vjɛ̃/ | surviens /syʁ.vjɛ̃/ | survient /syʁ.vjɛ̃/ | survenons /syʁ.və.nɔ̃/ | survenez /syʁ.və.ne/ | surviennent /syʁ.vjɛn/ |
| imperfect | survenais /syʁ.və.nɛ/ | survenais /syʁ.və.nɛ/ | survenait /syʁ.və.nɛ/ | survenions /syʁ.və.njɔ̃/ | surveniez /syʁ.və.nje/ | survenaient /syʁ.və.nɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | survins /syʁ.vɛ̃/ | survins /syʁ.vɛ̃/ | survint /syʁ.vɛ̃/ | survînmes /syʁ.vɛ̃m/ | survîntes /syʁ.vɛ̃t/ | survinrent /syʁ.vɛ̃ʁ/ | |
| future | surviendrai /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁe/ | surviendras /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁa/ | surviendra /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁa/ | surviendrons /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | surviendrez /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁe/ | surviendront /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | surviendrais /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ | surviendrais /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ | surviendrait /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ | surviendrions /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/ | surviendriez /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁi.je/ | surviendraient /syʁ.vjɛ̃.dʁɛ/ | |
| (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 | survienne /syʁ.vjɛn/ | surviennes /syʁ.vjɛn/ | survienne /syʁ.vjɛn/ | survenions /syʁ.və.njɔ̃/ | surveniez /syʁ.və.nje/ | surviennent /syʁ.vjɛn/ |
| imperfect2 | survinsse /syʁ.vɛ̃s/ | survinsses /syʁ.vɛ̃s/ | survînt /syʁ.vɛ̃/ | survinssions /syʁ.vɛ̃.sjɔ̃/ | survinssiez /syʁ.vɛ̃.sje/ | survinssent /syʁ.vɛ̃s/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of être + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | surviens /syʁ.vjɛ̃/ | — | survenons /syʁ.və.nɔ̃/ | survenez /syʁ.və.ne/ | — | |
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Synonyms
- arriver
- se produire
- advenir
Further reading
- “survenir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.