Learn French
with Audio Stories

Try for Free

HOME > FRENCH SAYINGS

The French saying "Qui vivra verra" revealed

Are you ready to find out all the things you ever wanted to know about the inspirational proverb "Qui vivra verra"? It includes a full guide of what it is and how you can use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. And also the useful stuff we sprinkled like dialogue example, literal meaning, slow pronunciation audio and more!


Translation in English

  • Translation : Time will tell

  • Literal meaning : He who lives will see

  • Register : Neutral - Inspirational

How to pronounce it?

Slow

Normal

  • IPA : / ki vivʁa veʁa. /

aesthetic french quote qui vivra verra

Learn French
with Audio Stories

Try for Free

Qui vivra verra meaning

Definition

It means that even if the future is uncertain, those who survive will discover the outcomes. That no matter how hard we try to predict the future, only time will tell what it is made of.

This proverb is teaching us to be patient and to not lose our time trying to predict the unpredictable, because we will discover it anyway by staying safe.

By the way, English language has a very similar proverb which is "Time will tell".

How to use it

You can use it as a friendly reminder when someone is anxious about the future, lost in complex forecasts or even so impatient that he/she is not enjoying the moment.

And don't worry: "Qui vivra verra" is very famous in French-speaking countries, so have no doubts that people will understand immediately. 

Fun facts

Bonus: it sounds really good and looks awesome on tattoos.

↓ Example in a story with French audio ↓

Finally, let's see an example in a parallel story with slow audio.

Les secrets de la tour Eiffel

The secrets of the Eiffel Tower

Vous connaissez certainement déjà la Tour Eiffel...
You certainly already know the Eiffel Tower...
Mais connaissez-vous vraiment tous ses secrets ?
But do you really know all its secrets?
Pour commencer, la Tour Eiffel est le monument le plus visité au monde.
To start, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument in the world.
En France, nous l'appelons aussi : "La dame de fer".
In France, we also call it: "The lady of iron".
Elle a été construite comme l'une des principales expositions de la foire mondiale de 1889.
It was built as one of the main exhibitions of the 1889 World's Fair.
Au tout début, elle était très critiquée par des artistes et des intellectuels français.
At the very beginning, it was highly criticized by French artists and intellectuals.

10%

The story just started!

Get full access to 365 texts and quizzes, including this one.

Discover more

Already a member? Full story and quiz here.

← PREVIOUS

Qui vivra verra

BACK

To vocabulary list

NEXT →

Vouloir c'est pouvoir

Go to previous text Go to previous phrase
Play or pause audio
Go to next phrase Go to next text

x1

Speed

MANUAL

Mode

SHOW

Translation