Meaning

5 senses
  1. (intransitive)To occur or take place.

    Let me tell you how it happened.

    geschehen, passieren, sich ereignen

    происходи́тьproisxodítʹ, произойти́proizojtí, случа́тьсяslučátʹsja

    става́тисяstavátysja, ста́тисяstátysja, трапля́тисяtrapljátysja

  2. (impersonal, intransitive, 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?

    happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance

  3. To encounter by chance.

    chance to be or do something, without intention or causation

  4. (informal)To become popular or trendy.

    come into being; become reality

  5. (archaic, transitive)To happen to; to befall.

Examples

15992 sentences
  1. I didn't want this to happen.

    Я не бажав, щоб так трапилось. — zinova

    ruЯ не хотел, чтобы это случилось. — al_ex_an_der

    deIch wollte nicht, dass das passiert. — MUIRIEL

  2. It happened a long time ago.

    Це трапилося дуже давно. — deniko

    ruЭто произошло давным-давно. — Hellerick

    deEs ist vor langer Zeit passiert. — MUIRIEL

  3. Something terrible is about to happen.

    Зараз трапиться щось жахливе. — deniko

    ruДолжно произойти что-то ужасное. — Lenin_1917

    deEtwas Schreckliches wird geschehen. — Manfredo

  4. Why does everything happen to me?

    Чому все відбувається саме зі мною? — deniko

    ruПочему всё происходит именно со мной? — marafon

    deWarum passiert immer alles mir? — raggione

  5. The accident happened two hours ago.

    Аварія сталася дві години тому. — aandrusiak

    ruАвария произошла два часа назад. — marafon

    deDer Unfall ist vor zwei Stunden passiert. — samueldora

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to occur:
Русский
By meaning 1
to occur:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to occur:

Origin

From Middle English happenen, hapnen, augmented from Middle English happen (“to come to pa

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).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

happens, happening, happened, happened
Base formhappen · to happen
3rd person singularhappens
Present participlehappening
Past simplehappened
Past participlehappened

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyhappen
he, she, ithappens

Past simpleLesson

all personshappened

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave happened
he, she, ithas happened

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill happen

Phrasal verbs

4 phrasal verbs

Synonyms

29 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

18 related words

Collocations

12 patterns
  • going to happen
  • about what happened
  • what had happened
  • what happened to
  • know what happened
  • happen again
  • what might happen
  • for what happened
  • what was happening
  • remember what happened
  • this would happen
  • what happened here

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
happen — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto