# FR: il lui arrivait de



## mr_simul

I cannot for the life of me figure out what this exactly means.  In its full context:

"Quand il entendait pleurer durant la nuit, il lui arrivait de monter la chandelle à la main à l'ètage et, agenouillé entre ses deux filles, de chanter... "

I am also curious as to why there is a "de" in front of "monter" and "chanter".  My French grammar book says "arriver" is follwed by "à" if one follows "arriver" with an infinitive.  Likewise, which verb requires the "de" before "chanter", or is there another reason for the "de"?  

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.


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## Punky Zoé

Hi

It is not the verb "arriver à" + infinitive, but an impersonal form "il m'/t'/lui/nous/vous/leur arrive" de + infinitive. In fact the real subject is "m'/t'/lui/nous/vous/leur". 

Something along 'he sometimes happened to'.


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## Stéphane89

Indeed, "arriver" is generally followed by "à". But here, the verb has a rather idiomatic meaning. It means the person sometimes did it, but not always... And then, it is followed by "de".

I was taught that this use of "arriver" corresponds to the English "happen + to" as in "When he heard crying, he happened to climb up the floor with a candle in his hand and, kneeling between both his daughters, sing"

"De chanter" also agrees with "arriver".

Hope this helps


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## mr_simul

yes it does help, thanks.


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## Mike-NYC1

Just to put in my two cents and vote for:

"Il lui arrivait de..." does indeed mean "he happened to..."


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## brian

I would be careful translating with "happen to": this often expresses the idea of "by chance" ("par hasard"), which, in this particular context for example, does not really make sense, at least I don't think.

I'd stick with Punky Zoé's "sometimes": _When he heard (would hear) it rain at night, *he would sometimes...*_


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## quinoa

brian said:


> I would be careful translating with "happen to": this often expresses the idea of "by chance" ("par hasard"), which, in this particular context for example, does not really make sense, at least I don't think.
> 
> I'd stick with Punky Zoé's "sometimes": _When he heard (would hear) it rain at night, *he would sometimes...*_


 

I agree with you
When "arriver de" means regularity, you will have to use a frequency adverb or will/would.
And when "arriver de" is included in a clause beginning with "si" :
S lui arrive de faire une erreur = If he happens to make an error

I would like to add that as the previous one said it, "arriver de" can express frequency and in that case you will find a frequency adverb or will/would.
But you can also find "arriver de" in a clause beginning with "si" :
S'il lui arrive de faire une erreur ... = If he happens to make a mistake, ...
S'il lui arrivait de faire une erreur, ... = If he should happen to make ...


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## jann

brian said:


> [...]_ *he would sometimes...*_


I agree, this gets my vote.... or "sometimes he would..." - both orders are fine.


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## elianecanspeak

What about "end up"?

"When he would hear crying at night he would end up . . ."

Does that work?  I ask because the parallel construction in English is *"come to"*, which may be a direct borrowing from the French.

"How did nachos *come to* be called nachos?" (from the web)
"How did nachos  *end up* being called nachos?"


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## solregn

elianecanspeak said:


> What about "end up"?
> 
> "When he would hear crying at night he would end up . . ."



I think "end up" in this sentence would best be translated as "finir par" in French. It does however, in my opinion, slightly change its meaning:

Quand il entendait pleurer durant la nuit, *il lui arrivait de* monter...
(= sometimes, not always)

Quand il entendait pleurer durant la nuit, *il finirait par* monter...
(= "he would end up", what more or less always happened)


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## quinoa

Quand il entendait pleurer durant la nuit, *il finirait par* monter... (il *finissait*)
(= "he would end up", what more or less always happened)


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## solregn

quinoa said:


> Quand il entendait pleurer durant la nuit, *il finirait par* monter... (il *finissait*)
> (= "he would end up", what more or less always happened)



Merci quinoa, une faute bête...


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## quinoa

I've pointed it out because sometimes "would end up" could be "finirait" when it's conditional. But here it is not, this "would" is that of frequency.


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