tomber

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French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tomber, from Old French tumber, itself either of expressive/onomatopoeic origin (compare also Catalan and Portuguese tombar; Spanish tumbar; Romanian tumbă; Italian tombolare etc.), or alternatively possibly from a Frankish *tūmōn (“to rotate, reel, sway”), from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną (“to turn, rotate”), of uncertain origin. More at tumb.

Displaced the native choir, inherited from cadō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɔ̃.be/
  • Hyphenation: tom‧ber
  • audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -e

Verb

tomber

  1. to fall
    Un tamis placé à l’intérieur du dispositif empêchera les choses de tomber dans le tube.
    A screen placed inside the device will keep things from falling into the tube.
  2. to come down
    Laisse la pluie tomber sur nous et recouvre le pays de cette eau qui donne la vie.
    Let the rains come down upon us and cover the land with life-giving water.
  3. (transitive with sur) to bump into, to come across; to be received by (when making a telephone call)
    J’ai téléphoné à Robert mais je suis tombé sur Marie. ― I phoned Robert but I got Marie.
  4. (in idioms) to become, to get
    tomber amoureux ― to fall in love
    tomber malade ― to fall ill, to get sick
    tomber enceinte ― to fall pregnant, to get pregnant

Conjugation

  • This verb uses the auxiliary verb avoir when used transitively (or with a transitive sense, even when the complement is omitted); otherwise (when it is intransitive), it uses être.
Conjugation of tomber (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple tomber
compound avoir or être + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple tombant
/tɔ̃.bɑ̃/
compound ayant or étant + past participle
past participle tombé
/tɔ̃.be/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present tombe
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombes
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombe
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombons
/tɔ̃.bɔ̃/ 		tombez
/tɔ̃.be/ 		tombent
/tɔ̃b/
imperfect tombais
/tɔ̃.bɛ/ 		tombais
/tɔ̃.bɛ/ 		tombait
/tɔ̃.bɛ/ 		tombions
/tɔ̃.bjɔ̃/ 		tombiez
/tɔ̃.bje/ 		tombaient
/tɔ̃.bɛ/
past historic2 tombai
/tɔ̃.be/ 		tombas
/tɔ̃.ba/ 		tomba
/tɔ̃.ba/ 		tombâmes
/tɔ̃.bam/ 		tombâtes
/tɔ̃.bat/ 		tombèrent
/tɔ̃.bɛʁ/
future tomberai
/tɔ̃.bʁe/ 		tomberas
/tɔ̃.bʁa/ 		tombera
/tɔ̃.bʁa/ 		tomberons
/tɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/ 		tomberez
/tɔ̃.bʁe/ 		tomberont
/tɔ̃.bʁɔ̃/
conditional tomberais
/tɔ̃.bʁɛ/ 		tomberais
/tɔ̃.bʁɛ/ 		tomberait
/tɔ̃.bʁɛ/ 		tomberions
/tɔ̃.bə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		tomberiez
/tɔ̃.bə.ʁje/ 		tomberaient
/tɔ̃.bʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir or être + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir or être + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir or être + past participle
future perfect future of avoir or être + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir or être + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present tombe
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombes
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombe
/tɔ̃b/ 		tombions
/tɔ̃.bjɔ̃/ 		tombiez
/tɔ̃.bje/ 		tombent
/tɔ̃b/
imperfect2 tombasse
/tɔ̃.bas/ 		tombasses
/tɔ̃.bas/ 		tombât
/tɔ̃.ba/ 		tombassions
/tɔ̃.ba.sjɔ̃/ 		tombassiez
/tɔ̃.ba.sje/ 		tombassent
/tɔ̃.bas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — tombe
/tɔ̃b/ 		— tombons
/tɔ̃.bɔ̃/ 		tombez
/tɔ̃.be/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir or être + past participle — simple imperative of avoir or être + past participle simple imperative of avoir or être + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French tumber.

Verb

tomber

  1. to fall

Conjugation

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  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of tomber
infinitive simple tomber
compound avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2 simple tombant
compound present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle tombé
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (i’) tu il, elle nous vous ilz, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present tombe tombes tombe tombons tombez tombent
imperfect tombois, tomboys tombois, tomboys tomboit, tomboyt tombions, tombyons tombiez, tombyez tomboient, tomboyent
past historic tomba tombas tomba tombasmes tombastes tomberent
future tomberai, tomberay tomberas tombera tomberons tomberez tomberont
conditional tomberois, tomberoys tomberois, tomberoys tomberoit, tomberoyt tomberions, tomberyons tomberiez, tomberyez tomberoient, tomberoyent
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que ie (i’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present tombe tombes tombe tombons tombez tombent
imperfect tombasse tombasses tombast tombassions tombassiez tombassent
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — tombe — tombons tombez —
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château , Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château , op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

  • French: tomber, tumer (dialectal)
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