survivre
/syʁ.vivʁ/
To survive in French is survivre.
The verb survivre is used to describe the act of living past a life-threatening event.
Meaning: live past a life-threatening event (verb)
How does it change in a sentence?
When you want to say that you survived a specific event or thing, use the preposition à after the verb, as in survivre à. The past participle of this verb is survécu.
How do you pronounce it?
/syʁ.vivʁ/
Did you know?
- French speakers often use the expression survivre à la journée to describe getting through a very stressful day at work, rather than a literal life-threatening event.
- The word survivre is a direct relative of the English word 'survive', as both descended from the Latin supervīvō, combining super meaning 'above' or 'beyond' and vīvō meaning 'to live'.
- The prefix sur- in survivre is used in many other French words to mean 'over' or 'excess', such as surplus or surmonter, creating a pattern of 'going beyond' a limit.
Examples in context
- Je peux y survivre.I can survive this.This sentence is useful for practicing the use of survivre with a pronoun.Tatoeba #7067811 by Aiji, translation #5859398 by CK
- Je peux survivre seul.I can survive alone.This sentence is useful for expressing survival while alone using survivre.Tatoeba #5395646 by pititnatole, translation #2208362 by CK
- J'ai fait ça pour survivre.I did that to survive.This sentence is useful for expressing the purpose of an action using survivre.Tatoeba #7853348 by Aiji, translation #6731191 by CK
- Après l'accident, il a miraculeusement survécu.After the accident, he miraculously survived.
- Cet explorateur a dû se maintenir en vie avec peu de nourriture lors de son expédition.This explorer had to stay alive with little food during his expedition.
- Malgré les difficultés financières, elle s'en sort toujours grâce à sa détermination.Despite the financial difficulties, she always manages to get by thanks to her determination.
- L'accident était grave, mais miraculeusement, les passagers ont échappé à la mort.The accident was severe, but miraculously, the passengers escaped death.
- 50 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucas and Emma are talking about a historical disaster.
- LucasCombien de personnes ont pu survivre ?How many people were able to survive?
- EmmaSeulement quelques-uns ont survécu au crash.Only a few survived the crash.
- LucasC'est un miracle de survivre à cela.It is a miracle to survive that.
- EmmaOui, Lucas, c'est vraiment incroyable.Yes, Lucas, it is truly incredible.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry survivre, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries survivre, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
