tomber

to fall

verb tohm-BEH Common

Also means

to drop

Usage Note

Tomber uses être as its auxiliary in compound tenses. The verb is very productive idiomatically: tomber amoureux means to fall in love, tomber malade means to fall ill, and laisser tomber means to drop (something) or to give up on something — a critical phrasal verb in everyday French.

Examples

"Elle est tombée dans l'escalier."

Natural Translation

She fell on the stairs.

Literal Translation

She is fallen in the staircase.

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