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"to occur, happen" in seven languages

Meaningto occur, happen

Spanish

ocurrir

/okuˈriɾ/

learned

Se me ocurre una idea: 'an idea occurs to me'.

French

se produire

/sə pʁɔdɥiʁ/

other source · Latin PRŌDŪCERE 'to bring forth'

Arriver is the everyday 'to happen'.

Italian

accadere

/akkaˈdere/

other source · Latin CADERE 'to fall', with ad-

Italian occorrere means 'to be needed' — a trap.

Portuguese

ocorrer

/okoˈheh/

learned

Everyday speech prefers acontecer.

Romanian

se produce

/se proˈdutʃe/

other source · Latin PRŌDŪCERE, learned (after French se produire)

Catalan

passar

/pəˈsa/

other source · Latin *PASSĀRE 'to step, pass' (from PASSUS 'step')

English

occur

/əˈkɝ/

from Latin/French · Latin OCCURRERE

English → Italianto occur, happenaccadereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: current, course, recur, occurrence.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

OCCURRERE‘to run towards, meet’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Something that occurs 'runs into your path'. Only Spanish uses the verb this way; Italian occorrere drifted to 'to be needed', and Italian says things 'fall to' (accadere).

English relatives: current, course, recur, occurrence

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In a sentence

  • esEl accidente ocurrió de noche.
  • frL'accident s'est produit la nuit.
  • itL'incidente è accaduto di notte.
  • ptO acidente ocorreu à noite.
  • roAccidentul s-a produs noaptea.
  • caL'accident va passar de nit.
  • enThe accident occurred at night.

More in Core verbs

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