Learn French: Les passagers arrivent en retard.

Les passagers arrivent en retard.

The passengers arrive late.

Breakdown of Les passagers arrivent en retard.

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Questions & Answers about Les passagers arrivent en retard.

How do you pronounce "arrivent" in this sentence?

The -ent ending on French verbs in the "they" form is completely silent! You pronounce arrivent exactly the same way you pronounce the singular "he/she" form, arrive.

Why use "en retard" instead of just "tard" for "late"?

Use en retard when a person, transport, or event is delayed or arriving later than scheduled. Use tard when you mean "late in the day" or "late at night". Since the passengers are behind schedule, en retard is the correct choice here.

Since this lesson is about "venir" (to come), could I say "Les passagers viennent en retard"?

You could, but arrivent is more commonly used for travelers reaching their destination. Venir means "to come" and focuses on the movement toward the speaker, whereas arriver simply means "to arrive" at the end of a journey.

The "s" at the end of "passagers" is silent. How do I know it's plural when listening?

The word for "the" gives it away! The singular "the" is le (pronounced with a short "uh" sound), while the plural les sounds more like "lay". Listening to the article before the noun is often the only way to tell if a word is plural in spoken French.