Vous n'êtes pas arrivés en retard

Question

If you are refering "vous"  formally to single person would  "Vous n'êtes pas arrivé en retard". Arrivé without the "s".

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Stephen, 
Yes, you are correct that if you were talking to a person you didn't know very well you would say 
Vous n'êtes pas arrivé en retard 
and arrivé wouldn't have a final -s.
The question asked was however in the plural and it was asking you to write the following statement in a negative form -
Vous êtes arrivés en retard
 so arrivés with an -s 
Hope this helps!

Jim Jones · Answer

Hi Stephen,You raise an interesting point.On the face of it, no! in my opinion."Vous" is the second person plural but if the context made it particularly clear that a single person was being expressed then perhaps it would be acceptable to write "Vous n'êtes pas arrivé".I look forward to reading other opinions on this point.Jim