Vous n'êtes pas arrivés en retard

STEPHEN W.C1Kwiziq community member

Vous n'êtes pas arrivés en retard

If you are refering "vous"  formally to single person would  "Vous n'êtes pas arrivé en retard". Arrivé without the "s".

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Stephen, 

Yes, you are correct that if you were talking to a person you didn't know very well you would say 

Vous n'êtes pas arrivé en retard 

and arrivé wouldn't have a final -s.

The question asked was however in the plural and it was asking you to write the following statement in a negative form -

Vous êtes arrivés en retard

 so arrivés with an -s 

Hope this helps!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Stephen,

You raise an interesting point.

On the face of it, no! in my opinion.

"Vous" is the second person plural but if the context made it particularly clear that a single person was being expressed then perhaps it would be acceptable to write "Vous n'êtes pas arrivé".

I look forward to reading other opinions on this point.

Jim

Vous n'êtes pas arrivés en retard

If you are refering "vous"  formally to single person would  "Vous n'êtes pas arrivé en retard". Arrivé without the "s".

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