Breakdown of Quoi qu'il arrive, le voleur ne peut pas devenir totalement invisible.
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
arriver
to arrive
devenir
to become
pouvoir
to be able to / can
il
it (impersonal subject)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
le voleur
the thief
invisible
invisible
quoi que
whatever
totalement
totally
Questions & Answers about Quoi qu'il arrive, le voleur ne peut pas devenir totalement invisible.
Why is arrive used here, and is it in the indicative or subjunctive mood?
It is actually in the subjunctive mood! The phrase quoi que (meaning "whatever" or "no matter what") always triggers the subjunctive. For regular -er verbs like arriver, the third-person singular form happens to look exactly the same in both the present indicative and the present subjunctive (arrive).
Could I write quoiqu'il arrive with quoique as a single word?
How does this relate to the current lesson's focus on quand bien même? Could I use that phrase instead?
Both express concession, but they use completely different structures. Quoi que uses the subjunctive to say "whatever happens." If you wanted to use quand bien même to express a similar hypothetical idea like "even if that happened," you would need the conditional mood: quand bien même cela arriverait.
Why is totalement placed after devenir instead of after peut?
In a sentence with a conjugated verb and an infinitive (peut + devenir), adverbs of manner like totalement usually go immediately after the infinitive they modify. Because it describes the extent to which the thief becomes invisible, it directly follows devenir.
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