发生 fāshēng happen
happen; occur; take place
How to remember 发生: 发 send out + 生 life = happen.
Characters
How it is used
- Intransitive 'happen/occur' where the subject is the event itself - 发生了什么事? (fāshēng le shénme shì?) what happened?
- Habitual objects are incidents and changes: 发生事故 (fāshēng shìgù) an accident happens, 发生战争 (fāshēng zhànzhēng) war breaks out, 发生变化 (fāshēng biànhuà) a change occurs.
- No agent and no passive - you don't 'make something 发生'; the event just 发生.
Example sentences
- 发生了什么事？ Fāshēngle shénme shì?What happened?
- 那有时会发生。 Nà yǒushí huì fāshēng.Sometimes it happens.
- 那从不会发生。 Nà cóng búhuì fāshēng.That won't ever happen.