Le professeur interdit de compter sur les doigts
A2 French listening practice · French · Curated for beginners
What does “je n’arrive pas à” mean in French?
Arriver à plus an infinitive has nothing to do with arriving: it means managing or succeeding. So je n’arrive pas à is the everyday way to say that something is defeating you right now — je n’arrive pas à compter sans mes doigts, je n’arrive pas à dormir, je n’arrive pas à ouvrir ce bocal. It reports effort and difficulty, not permission or lifelong ability.
Compare je ne peux pas (“I can’t / I’m not allowed”) and je ne sais pas nager (“I never learned to swim”): je n’arrive pas à nager means you are in the water and failing. The positive side is just as useful — j’y arrive ! (“I’m getting there!”), tu vas y arriver (“you’ll manage it”), where y stands in for the task.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this A2 French listening practice listening practice?
General French frequency
Spoken French frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.