happened

Happened is the past tense and past participle form of the verb happen, meaning to occur or take place. It is used to refer to events that occurred in the past or to describe events in narratives. The word often appears with time expressions such as yesterday, last week, or in phrases like what happened?

Origin and sense: The word traces back to Old English and is linked to hap, meaning chance or fortune. Through this lineage, happen came to describe events that occur, whether expected or not, and happened indicates that such an event has already occurred.

Usage and grammar: Happen is typically intransitive; it does not take a direct object. It can occur with a to construction to refer to a person or thing affected by the event: it happened to me, she happened to be there. It is also used in happen to clauses to introduce a coincidence.

Perfect and related forms: The past participle happened forms the present perfect and past perfect: has happened, had happened. In the simple past, something happened. In narratives, it supports a factual, neutral tone.

Related terms: Happenstance denotes a chance occurrence, and the verb is closely related to synonyms such as occur, take place, come about.