Breakdown of Dès son arrivée dans la halle, le patron a contrôlé l'arrivage.
dans
in, inside
avoir
to have
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
l'arrivée
the arrival (f)
le patron
the boss
contrôler
to control
dès
from, as early as
la halle
the market hall
l'arrivage
the shipment (m)
Questions & Answers about Dès son arrivée dans la halle, le patron a contrôlé l'arrivage.
How does dès work in this sentence, and could I just use à or depuis instead?
The preposition dès emphasizes that the action happened immediately at that point in time, meaning right from or as soon as. If you used à son arrivée (upon his arrival), it would lose that strong sense of immediacy. You cannot use depuis (since) here because depuis is typically used to describe an action that is still ongoing, whereas a contrôlé is a completed action in the past.
Why does the sentence use son arrivée if arrivée is a feminine noun?
Even though arrivée is feminine, it starts with a vowel. In French, you must use the masculine possessive adjective son instead of the feminine sa before a vowel sound. This rule exists to make the pronunciation flow smoothly and to avoid the clunky vowel clash of saying sa arrivée.
Does contrôlé mean controlled in this context?
Not exactly. While contrôler can mean to control, it is a common false friend. In everyday French, it very often means to check, to inspect, or to verify. In this sentence, the boss is inspecting the newly arrived goods, not controlling them.
What is the difference between arrivée and arrivage, since they look so similar?
Why is it written as la halle instead of contracting to l'halle?
Learn Dès son arrivée dans la halle, le patron a contrôlé l'arrivage 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