Bonsoir à tous,
In this section of text:
Mais après seulement quelques semaines, elle a commencé à s'épanouir : elle ne cachait plus sa bouche quand elle souriait, et on pouvait maintenant entendre sa voix clairement quand elle parlait, ce qui arrivait plus souvent qu'avant.
Can arriver and se passer be used interchangeably here? i.e. "ce qui se passait plus souvent qu'avant."
'se passait' wasn't given as an alternative option in the available correct answers.
Nick
Bonjour Nick,
Thank you for your question! It is a really interesting point.
In this instance, you could have 'se produire' as an alternative - which is being added as an option.
"Se passer" sounds a little 'clunky' and wouldn't work in this instance because (like the verb "se dérouler") it involves an event in a duration.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !
Hi Nick,
Interesting point!
Have a look here, in particular the comment by Tilt
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/arriver-se-passer-se-d%c3%a9rouler-se-produire.4594/
Hope it helps.
Jim
In the example you quote, you can also use se passer. There is a slight shift in meaning, though. Se passer is an impersonal statement: something happens in a very general sense. Arriver implies, to some degree, something happening to a person (indirect object) which, however, is not always mentioned in the phrase but may be implied by context.
Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé? -- What happened?
Qu'est-ce qui lui est arrivé? -- What happened to him?
Bonsoir à tous,
In this section of text:
Mais après seulement quelques semaines, elle a commencé à s'épanouir : elle ne cachait plus sa bouche quand elle souriait, et on pouvait maintenant entendre sa voix clairement quand elle parlait, ce qui arrivait plus souvent qu'avant.
Can arriver and se passer be used interchangeably here? i.e. "ce qui se passait plus souvent qu'avant."
'se passait' wasn't given as an alternative option in the available correct answers.
Nick
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