Simple Conjugations for "Rompre" (to Break) in French

Learn How to Say "Broke" or "Breaking" With an Irregular Verb

Cracked glass
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The French verb rompre means "to break." It's a word you'll find many uses for in French, though it's not your only option. The verbs casser and briser also mean "to break." 

When you do use rompre, you'll find it helpful to know it's basic conjugations. This will allow you to say such things as "we broke" or "she is breaking" in conversation. A quick lesson will serve as a good introduction to this irregular verb.

The Basic Conjugations of Rompre

French verb conjugations come with varying degrees of difficulty and rompre is one of the more challenging you'll encounter. That's because rompre is an irregular verb and it does not follow a regular pattern like some others. However, a word like interrompre (to interrupt) is conjugated in the same way, so studying the two simultaneously would be a wise move.

The indicative verb mood is where you will find the basic present, future, and imperfect past tenses. These are the forms you'll use most often in French, so they should be your top priority in memorization.

The verb stem (or radical) of rompre is romp-. To this, a variety of endings are added to correspond with both the subject pronoun and the tense. Using the chart, you will discover that je romps means "I am breaking" and nous romprons means "we will break."

Present Future Imperfect
je romps romprai rompais
tu romps rompras rompais
il rompt rompra rompait
nous rompons romprons rompions
vous rompez romprez rompiez
ils rompent rompront rompaient

The Present Participle of Rompre

The present participle of rompre is formed as if it were a regular -er verb. In this sense, it is easy to remember that it requires -ant for the ending to form the word rompant.

Rompre in the Compound Past Tense

The past participle rompu is used to form the passé composé, a common French past tense compound. It begins with a present tense conjugate of the auxiliary verb avoir to which rompu is added. For example, "I broke" is j'ai rompu and "we broke" is nous avons rompu.

More Simple Conjugations of Rompre

If you have doubts about whether something will break, the subjunctive verb form can be used. If, however, it is dependent on something else (the possibility that someone will drop an object, for instance), then you can use the conditional.

Found most often in written French, there may also be times when you'll need to know the passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive forms of rompre.

Subjunctive Conditional Passé Simple Imperfect Subjunctive
je rompe romprais rompis rompisse
tu rompes romprais rompis rompisses
il rompe romprait rompit rompît
nous rompions romprions rompîmes rompissions
vous rompiez rompriez rompîtes rompissiez
ils rompent rompraient rompirent rompissent

The French imperative can be useful for a verb like rompre as well. It's used often in exclamations and when you use it there's no need to include the subject pronoun.

(tu) romps
(nous) rompons
(vous) rompez