happen

See also: Happen

English

Etymology

From Middle English happenen, hapnen, augmented from Middle English happen (“to come to pass, happen”), perhaps from Old English hæppan (“to move accidentally, slip”) and/or from Old Norse *happa, *heppa, from Proto-Germanic *hampijaną (“to fit in, be fitting”). Equivalent to hap (“a chance, occurrence, byfall”) +‎ -en (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæpən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æpən

Verb

happen (third-person singular simple present happens, present participle happening, simple past and past participle happened)

1. (intransitive) To occur or take place.

   Synonyms: come to pass; see also Thesaurus:happen

   Let me tell you how it happened.

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.

2. (transitive, archaic) To happen to; to befall.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     'By my soul! I believe something bad has happened me,' he muttered, and popped up his window, and looked out, half dreaming over the church-yard on the park beyond […]

3. (intransitive or impersonal, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

   Take an umbrella in case it happens to rain.

   Do you happen to have an umbrella?

   I happened to get wet.

4. (followed by on or upon) To encounter by chance.
   • 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 30, in The Marble Faun:

     Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

5. (informal) To become popular or trendy.

Usage notes

• In the sense which indicates a chance occurrence, happen is a catenative verb that takes the to-infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

• accidents will happen
• accidents will happen in the best regulated families
• accident waiting to happen
• as it happens
• couldn't happen to a nicer
• disaster waiting to happen
• happen across
• happen along
• happen by
• happener
• happeningly
• happen on
• happen upon
• if it happens, it happens
• it so happens
• make fetch happen
• make happen
• or it didn't happen
• pics or it didn't happen
• pictures or it didn't happen
• shit happens
• these things happen
• waiting to happen
• what's happening
• worse things happen at sea

 

Related terms

• happening
• happenstance

Translations

to occur

• Afrikaans: aangaan
• Albanian: ndodh (sq)
• Arabic: حَدَثَ (ar) (ḥadaṯa), جَرَى (ar) (jarā), حَصَلَ (ḥaṣala), وَقَعَ (waqaʕa)

  Egyptian Arabic: حصل (ḥaṣal)

  Hijazi Arabic: صار (ṣār), حصل (ḥaṣal)

  Moroccan Arabic: وقع (uqəʕ)

• Aramaic: הוי (hwy)
• Armenian: պատահել (hy) (patahel)
• Assamese: ঘটা (ghota)
• Azerbaijani: vaqe olmaq, olmaq (az)
• Bashkir: булыу (bulıw)
• Basque: gertatu, bururatu
• Belarusian: здара́цца impf (zdarácca), зда́рыцца pf (zdárycca), адбыва́цца impf (adbyvácca), адбы́цца pf (adbýcca), трапля́цца impf (trapljácca), тра́піцца pf (trápicca)
• Bengali: ঘটা (bn) (ghoṭa)
• Bulgarian: слу́чвам се (bg) impf (slúčvam se), ста́вам (bg) impf (stávam)
• Burmese: ဖြစ် (my) (hprac)
• Catalan: passar (ca), ocórrer (ca), succeir (ca)
• Cherokee: ᏂᎦᎵᏍᏗᎭ (nigalisdiha)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 發生／发生 (faat³ sang¹)

  Mandarin: 發生／发生 (zh) (fāshēng)

• Czech: stát se (cs) pf, dít se (cs) impf, dějít se impf
• Danish: ske (da), hænde (da), indtræffe, forefalde
• Dutch: gebeuren (nl)
• Esperanto: okazi (eo)
• Estonian: juhtuma, toimuma (et)
• Faroese: henda (fo), gerast
• Finnish: tapahtua (fi), käydä (fi), sattua (fi)
• French: arriver (fr), se produire (fr), se passer (fr), advenir (fr)
• Galician: suceder (gl), pasar (gl), ocorrer (gl), acontecer (gl), avir (gl), adergar, callar (gl), acaescer
• Gallurese: avviné
• Georgian: მოხდომა (moxdoma)
• German: geschehen (de), passieren (de), stattfinden (de), vorfallen (de)

  Alemannic German: passiere

• Greek: συμβαίνω (el) (symvaíno), γίνομαι (el) (gínomai), τυχαίνω (el) (tychaíno), λαχαίνω (el) (lachaíno), τυγχάνω (el) (tyncháno), διαδραματίζομαι (el) (diadramatízomai), σημειώνομαι (el) (simeiónomai)

  Ancient: τυγχάνω (tunkhánō), συμφέρω (sumphérō)

• Hebrew: קָרָה (he) (kará), הָלַךְ (he) (halákh)
• Hindi: बीतना (hi) (bītnā)
• Hungarian: történik (hu), megtörténik (hu), megesik (hu)
• Icelandic: bera við, henda (is), verða (is), vilja til, gerast (is)
• Ido: eventar (io)
• Ingrian: tapahtua
• Irish: tarlaigh

  Old Irish: ad·cumaing, do·ecmaing, for·cumaing

• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: accadere (it), succedere (it), occorrere (it)
• Japanese: 起こる (ja) (おこる, okoru), 起る (ja) (おこる, okoru)
• Kazakh: болу (kk) (bolu)
• Khmer: កើតឡើង (km) (kaət laəng), កើត (km) (kaət)
• Korean: 일어나다 (ko) (ireonada), 발생하다 (ko) (balsaenghada)
• Kyrgyz: болуу (ky) (boluu)
• Ladino:

  Roman: afitar

• Lao: ບັງເກີດ (bang kœ̄t), ເກີດ (lo) (kœ̄t), ເປັນ (pen)
• Latin: fiō (la), accidō (la), contingo (la), evenio (la), cado (la), intercido, eo (la)
• Latvian: notik
• Lithuanian: atsitikti, vykti (lt), įvykti
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Luhya: esihole
• Macedonian: се случува impf (se slučuva), се случи pf (se sluči)
• Maore Comorian: uhidjiri
• Mbyá Guaraní: iko
• Mongolian: болох (mn) (bolox), тохиолдох (mn) (toxioldox)
• Ngazidja Comorian: uhundra (+ direct object)
• Nigerian Pidgin: happun
• Norwegian: inntreffe, skje (no), hende (no)

  Bokmål: foregå

• Old English: ġelimpan, weorþan, ġebyrian
• Old Turkic: 𐰉𐰆𐰞 (bol-)
• Pannonian Rusyn: случиц pf (slučic), случовац impf (slučovac), трафиц pf (trafic), трафяц impf (trafjac), збуц pf (zbuc), збувац impf (zbuvac), стац pf (stac), ставац impf (stavac)
• Persian: روی دادن (fa) (ruy dâdan), اتفاق افتادن (fa) (ettefâq oftâdan), واقع شدن (vâqe' šodan), پیشامد کردن (pišâmad kardan)
• Polish: zdarzać się (pl) impf, zdarzyć się (pl) pf, wydarzać się impf, wydarzyć się (pl) pf, dziać się (pl) impf, stać się (pl) pf, trafiać się (pl) impf, trafić się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: acontecer (pt), suceder (pt), ocorrer (pt)
• Quechua: tukuy (qu)
• Romagnol: cadér
• Romanian: întâmpla (ro), petrece (ro)
• Russian: происходи́ть (ru) impf (proisxodítʹ), произойти́ (ru) pf (proizojtí); случа́ться (ru) impf (slučátʹsja), случи́ться (ru) pf (slučítʹsja), состоя́ться (ru) pf (sostojátʹsja)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: accadésseri, sutzediri

  Logudorese: sutzèdere

• Sassarese: accadí
• Scottish Gaelic: tachair, turchair, tàrlaidh
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: догодити се pf, десити се pf

  Roman: dogoditi se (sh) pf, desiti se (sh) pf

• Seri: aaha
• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: stať sa pf, udiať sa pf
• Slovene: zgodíti se pf
• Spanish: suceder (es), ocurrir (es), pasar (es), sobrevenir (es), acaecer (es), acontecer (es), contecer (es)
• Swahili: kutukia, kutokea
• Swedish: hända (sv), ske (sv), inträffa (sv), äga rum (sv), förekomma (sv)
• Tagalog: mangyari
• Tajik: рӯй додан (rüy dodan), воқеъ шудан (voqeʾ šudan), иттифоқ афтодан (ittifoq aftodan)
• Tamil: ஆகு (ta) (āku), நட (ta) (naṭa)
• Thai: เกิด (th) (gə̀ət)
• Tibetan: བྱུང (byung)
• Turkish: olmak (tr), yer bulmak (tr), meydana gelmek (tr)
• Turkmen: bolmak (tk)
• Ukrainian: става́тися impf (stavátysja), ста́тися pf (státysja), трапля́тися impf (trapljátysja), тра́питися pf (trápytysja), відбува́тися impf (vidbuvátysja), відбу́тися pf (vidbútysja), чини́тися impf (čynýtysja), учини́тися pf (učynýtysja), зчини́тися pf (zčynýtysja), роби́тися impf (robýtysja), зроби́тися pf (zrobýtysja)
• Urdu: بیتنا (bītnā), ہونا (honā)
• Uyghur: يۈز بەرمەك (yüz bermek)
• Uzbek: boʻlmoq (uz), voqe boʻlmoq, yuz bermoq
• Vietnamese: xảy ra (vi), xảy đến
• Volapük: jenön (vo)
• Walloon: ariver (wa), sorvini (wa), si passer (wa)
• Yiddish: געשען (geshen)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

to occur by chance, unexpectedly

• Finnish: sattua (fi)
• Polish: przypadkiem (pl) (used with a verb)

Adverb

happen (not comparable)

1. (obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.
   • 2016, Sally Wainwright, Happy Valley, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire), Manchester: Red Production Company; distributed by BBC Studios, published 2016:

     Yeah, well happen if he'd gone quietly, she wouldn't have needed to show him who's in charge.

Dutch

Etymology

From hap (“bite”) +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦɑpə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑpən

Verb

happen

1. to take a bite

Conjugation

Conjugation of happen (weak)
infinitive	happen
past singular	hapte
past participle	gehapt
infinitive	happen
gerund	happen n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	hap	hapte
2nd person sing. (jij)	hapt, hap2	hapte
2nd person sing. (u)	hapt	hapte
2nd person sing. (gij)	hapt	hapte
3rd person singular	hapt	hapte
plural	happen	hapten
subjunctive sing.1	happe	hapte
subjunctive plur.1	happen	hapten
imperative sing.	hap
imperative plur.1	hapt
participles	happend	gehapt
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion.

Derived terms

• behappen

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: hap

Noun

happen

1. plural of hap