tomber
French
Etymology
From Middle French tomber, from Old French tumber, itself either of expressive/onomatopoeic origin (compare also Catalan and Portuguese tombar; Spanish tumbar; Romanian tumbă; 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
- 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.
- 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.
- (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.
- (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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
- à tomber par terre
- la foudre ne tombe jamais deux fois au même endroit
- laisser tomber
- la pomme ne tombe jamais loin de l'arbre
- les bras m'en tombent
- qui fait le malin tombe dans le ravin
- tombé du camion
- tomber à la renverse
- tomber à l'eau
- tomber amoureux
- tomber à pic
- tomber à plat
- tomber comme un couperet
- tomber dans le panneau
- tomber dans les pommes
- tomber dans les vapes
- tomber dans l'oreille d'un sourd
- tomber de fatigue
- tomber de haut
- tomber des nues
- tomber de sommeil
- tomber de son piédestal
- tomber du ciel
- tomber en panne
- tomber en ruine
- tomber malade
- tomber sous le sens
- tomber sur
- tomber sur le nez
- tomber sur un os
- tombeur
Further reading
- “tomber”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- trombe
Middle French
Alternative forms
- tumber
Etymology
From Old French tumber.
Verb
tomber
- to fall
Conjugation
- 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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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 [1995], 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 [1995], op. cit., p. 180). | |||||||
Descendants
- French: tomber, tumer (dialectal)