tomber

French

Etymology

From Middle French tomber, from Old French tumber, itself either of expressive/onomatopoetic origin (compare also Catalan tombar, 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. Cognate with Old High German tūmōn (“to rotate, turn round”), Old Norse tumba (“to fall, tumble”), Old English tumbian (“to dance about, leap, tumble”). Largely displaced the native Latin word choir from Latin cadere. More at tumb.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tɔ̃.be/
  • audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -e

Verb

tomber

  1. to fall

Conjugation

Use the auxiliary être intranslatively, auxiliary avoir transitively.

Conjugation of tomber (see also Appendix:French verbs)
present participle tombant
/tɔ̃.bɑ̃/
past participle tombé
/tɔ̃.be/
infinitive
simple tomber
compound être + past participle
gerund1
simple tombant
/tɔ̃.bɑ̃/
compound étant + past participle
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle 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 être + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of être + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of être + past participle
future perfect future of être + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of 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 être + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of être + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — tombe
/tɔ̃b/		 — tombons
/tɔ̃.bɔ̃/		 tombez
/tɔ̃.be/		 —
compound — simple imperative of être + past participle — simple imperative of être + past participle simple imperative of être + past participle —
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French tumber.

Verb

tomber

  1. 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
simple compound
infinitive tomber avoir tombé
gerund en tombant Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle tombant
past participle tombé
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (may be i' before a vowel) tu il 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 Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
past anterior Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
future perfect Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
conditional perfect Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive que ie que tu qu'il 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 Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
pluperfect Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
— tombe — tombons tombez —

Descendants
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