Log inSign up

Le nouveau réceptionniste n'est pas encore arrivé.

Le nouveau réceptionniste n'est pas encore arrivé.
The new receptionist has not arrived yet.
From Lesson 264:Negative adverb (ne... pas encore)·French

Questions & Answers about Le nouveau réceptionniste n'est pas encore arrivé.

Why does pas encore come before arrivé instead of at the end of the sentence?
In compound tenses like the passé composé, negative adverbs like ne... pas encore surround the conjugated helping verb (here, est). They must go before the past participle (arrivé), unlike in English where "yet" usually goes at the very end of the sentence.
Why do we use est instead of a for "has arrived"?
The verb arriver (to arrive) takes être as its helping verb in the passé composé, rather than avoir. It is part of the specific group of verbs showing motion or a change of state (often remembered by the acronym DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP).
How would this sentence change if the new receptionist were a woman?
The noun réceptionniste stays exactly the same since it already ends in an -e, but the words around it must change to feminine. The subject becomes La nouvelle réceptionniste, and you must add an extra -e to the past participle to make it agree with the feminine subject: n'est pas encore arrivée.
Why does nouveau come before the noun here?
Most French adjectives go after the noun, but nouveau is part of a special group of short, common adjectives that always go before. You can remember these exceptions with the acronym BANGS (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size). Nouveau (new) falls under the "Age" category.

Learn Le nouveau réceptionniste n'est pas encore arrivé and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →