Use of 'Arriver a (with accent)

Question

In the two examples above, the expression ''They can't believe'' is translated as Ils n'arrivent pas a croire. I believe it could also be translated as Ils ne peuvent pas croire. If so, is there a preference in spoken French?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Brian,
In French, "pouvoir" has a more neutral tone than "ne pas arriver à" (which implies a failure in succeeding). In the case of "cannot believe [something]" using "ne pas arriver à + [verb]" is correct (it means that you cannot picture something as possible rather than "cannot do [something]").
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Ne pouvoir pas faire qqc means that you can't do something but not that you failed trying.N'arriver pas à faire qqc expresses the failure, i.e., you tried but failed.