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nous arrivions

arrive, get there, manage to, succeed in

→ arriver
arriv to arrive + ions we imperfect tense
verb · imperfect tense / present tense, 1st-person plural Rare #43,844
arrive, get there This form is used in the examples mainly after expressions such as « avant que » and « craindre que ».
FR: Attends ici jusqu'à ce que nous arrivions.
EN: Wait here until we arrive.
manage to, succeed in Often used with « à » followed by an infinitive.
FR: Je doute que nous arrivions à finir ce soir.
EN: I doubt that we'll manage to finish tonight.
Conjugation of arriver
Subjunctive present
SingularPlural
First arrive arrivions
Second arrives arriviez
Third arrive arrivent
Indicative imperfect
SingularPlural
First arrivais arrivions
Second arrivais arriviez
Third arrivait arrivaient

Tu oublieras sûrement cela avant que nous arrivions à la maison.

You’ll probably forget that before we get home.

Le temps que nous arrivions, il faisait déjà nuit.

By the time we arrived, it was already dark.

Je veux éviter que nous en arrivions là.

I want to prevent us from getting to that point.

— Les Fraises sauvages (1957)

Ne quitte pas avant que nous y arrivions.

Don’t leave before we get there.

Je crains que nous n'arrivions trop tard.

I'm afraid we'll arrive too late.

Nous n'arrivions pas à comprendre ce que Paul voulait faire.

We couldn't understand what Paul wanted to do.