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Arriver en retard est mal vu. Tu es censé être à l'heure.

Arriver en retard est mal vu. Tu es censé être à l'heure.
Arriving late is frowned upon. You are supposed to be on time.
From Lesson 369:Expectations and obligations (être censé)·French

Questions & Answers about Arriver en retard est mal vu. Tu es censé être à l'heure.

Does censé change spelling depending on who Tu is?
Yes. Censé functions like an adjective in this structure, so it must agree in gender and number with the subject. If Tu refers to a female, it becomes censée. Be careful not to confuse it with sensé (sensible), which sounds identical but is a completely different word!
Why is it Arriver instead of an -ing equivalent like Arrivant for 'Arriving'?
In English, we often use gerunds (verbs ending in -ing) as the subject of a sentence. In French, you must use the infinitive form of the verb to do this. You will almost never see a French present participle (like arrivant) used as a noun subject.
Is mal vu the standard way to say 'frowned upon'?
Yes! Literally meaning 'badly seen', être mal vu is the most natural and common way to express that something is frowned upon or socially unacceptable. Because the subject here is an infinitive verb (Arriver), mal vu stays in its default masculine singular form.
Why do we use en for en retard but à for à l'heure?
These are simply fixed prepositional phrases you need to memorize. Être en retard is the standard phrase for 'to be late', while être à l'heure means 'to be on time'. You cannot swap or change the prepositions without it sounding unnatural.

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