survenir

French

Etymology

From sur- +‎ venir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syʁ.və.niʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

survenir

1. to occur
2. to happen unexpectedly
3. (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		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
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: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (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.