arrivait

Arrivait is the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of the French verb arriver. It expresses an ongoing, habitual, or background action in the past. In narrative and description, arrivait signals that the action of arriving was in progress or repeated over a period, rather than completed at a definite moment.

In sentences, arrivait can translate as “was arriving” or “used to arrive” depending on context. For example: Il arrivait à la gare chaque soir. (He used to arrive at the station each evening.) Quand elle arrivait, le train était déjà parti. (When she was arriving, the train had already left.) The form is part of a broader set of imperfect forms that convey past actions without specifying discrete endpoints.

Morphology and related forms: arrivait is built from the stem arriv- with the imperfect endings of -er verbs. Other imperfect forms of arriver include j’arrivais, tu arrivais, nous arrivions, vous arriviez, ils arrivaient. The imperfect contrasts with the passé composé, which marks completed past actions, and with the present tense for current or habitual actions.

Usage and notes: Arrivait is common in written and spoken French, especially in descriptions, storytelling, and historical narration. Its interpretation as “was arriving” versus “used to arrive” depends on surrounding context and temporal markers. Like other imperfect forms, it may be paired with time expressions such as autrefois, souvent, toujours, or lorsque to indicate habitual or background past events.