atterrir
/a.tɛ.ʁiʁ/
To touch down in French is atterrir.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In France, the expression Atterrir en douceur is used specifically to mean "to land softly".
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of atterrir is atterri. To express that something was landing or used to land, use the imperfect form atterrissait. For the simple future, use atterrira to mean "will land".
How do you pronounce it?
/a.tɛ.ʁiʁ/
Did you know?
- There is a linguistic contrast between atterrir (to land) and décoller (to take off), where the latter literally means 'to unstick'.
- The verb atterrir can be used figuratively to describe someone who has ended up in an unexpected or strange situation, similar to the English 'to wind up'.
- The expression atterrir sur terre is considered a pleonasm, or a redundancy, in French because the word 'land' is already inside the verb.
Examples in context
- Où le vaisseau spatial va-t-il atterrir ?Where will the spaceship touch down?This sentence is useful for asking about the landing location of a spaceship using atterrir.Tatoeba #13536776 by sacredceltic, translation #13366895 by frpzzd
- Je suis heureux d'annoncer que l'atterrissage s'est déroulé sans problème.I am happy to announce that the touch down went smoothly.
- Notre avion va se poser dans quelques minutes. Préparez-vous!Our plane is going to touch down in a few minutes. Get ready!
- L'avion va atterrir dans dix minutes.The plane is going to land in ten minutes.
Example conversation
Léa and Nathan are talking about a flight delay.
- LéaEst-ce que l'avion va bientôt atterrir ?Is the plane going to land soon?
- NathanOui, le pilote vient d'annoncer l'atterrissage.Yes, the pilot just announced the landing.
- LéaEnfin ! Je suis tellement fatiguée.Finally! I am so tired.
- NathanOn va bientôt arriver à destination.We will arrive at our destination soon.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry atterrir, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
