happen
See also: Happen
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Verb edit
happen (third-person singular simple present happens, present participle happening, simple past and past participle happened)
- (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.
- (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 […]
- (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.
- (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.
- (informal) To become popular or trendy.
Usage notes edit
- 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 edit
- 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
- 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 edit
Translations edit
to occur
|
to occur by chance, unexpectedly
|
Adverb edit
happen (not comparable)
- (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 edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
happen
- to take a bite
Inflection edit
| Inflection 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 | 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. | ||||
Descendants edit
- → Papiamentu: hap
Noun edit
happen