Possible meanings of tomber
- to fall (over, down)
- to happen
- (familiar) to be/get busted/nicked
- (day) to end
- (fabric) to hang
- (fever) to drop
- (mustache) to droop
- (noise) to drop, fall away
- (number) to fall, drop
- (shoulders) to slope
- (wind) to die down, abate
Expressions with tomber
tomber à l'eau
to fall into the water
tomber amoureux de quelqu'un
to fall in love with someone
tomber bien bas (figurative)
to sink really low
tomber dans
to become, take to, lapse/fall into
tomber dans la marmite (familiar)
to fall under the spell, become passionate (about)
tomber dans l'eau
to fall into the water
tomber dans le domaine public
to be in the public domain/out of copyright
tomber dans le panneau (informal)
to fall for it, be gullible
tomber dans le piège
to fall into a trap, be trapped
tomber dans les pommes (informal)
to faint, pass out
tomber dans l'excès inverse
to go to the opposite extreme
tomber de
to fall from/out of/off
tomber de la lune (figurative)
to have dropped in from another planet
tomber dessus
to happen / show up unexpectedly
tomber de (tout) son haut
to crash to the ground, fall headlong
tomber du ciel
to be a godsend, heaven-sent
tomber du haut
to fall from a height
(figurative) to come down with a bump
tomber d'un excès dans un autre
to go from one extreme to another
tomber juste
to be correct, to hit the nail on the head
tomber le même jour
to fall/occur on the same day
tomber par terre
to fall to the ground
tomber sur
to come around to, light upon; to run/bump into; to come across/upon
bien tomber
to occur at the right time; to be lucky
faire tomber
to knock down, over; to drop; to bring down
laisser tomber
to drop; to let down, abandon, leave in the lurch
mal tomber
to occur at the wrong time; to be unlucky
se laisser tomber dans un fauteuil
to drop into an armchair
Ça tombe bien
That's fortunate/convenient
Ça tombe à point/pic (informal)
That's perfect timing
Ça ne pouvait pas mieux tomber
It couldn't come/happen at a better time
L'eau tombe en cascades
Water is cascading down
Et il a fallu que ça tombe sur moi ! (ironic)
It (just) had to be me!
La foudre est tombée
Lightning struck
Il est tombé sur la tête (informal)
He's got a screw loose, he must have been dropped on his head as a child
Il les tombe toutes
He's a real ladykiller
Il m'est tombé sur le dos (familiar)
He laid into me, went for me
Il m'est tombé sur le paletot (familiar)
He laid into me, went for me
Il m'est tombé sur le râble (familiar)
He laid into me, went for me
Il nous est tombé dessus
He showed up unexpectedly
Il tombe de la neige
It's snowing
Il tombe quelques gouttes
It's sprinkling / spitting (with rain)
Laisse tomber ! (informal)
Forget it, let it go, never mind
La maladie, ça peut vous tomber dessus n'importe quand
You can fall ill any time
La nouvelle vient de tomber à l'instant
The news has just broken
La nuit tombe
Night is falling / it's getting dark
Quand la solitude vous tombe dessus...
When you suddenly find yourself alone...
Une quantité de problèmes leur est tombée dessus
They had a whole series of problems
Qu'est-ce qu'il tombe ! (informal)
It's pouring / coming down in buckets / tipping it down!
Un téléfax vient de tomber
A fax has just come through
For the above meanings, tomber is conjugated with the auxiliary verb être. When conjugated with avoir, it has different meanings:
tomber quelqu'un (informal)
to beat, defeat someone
tomber la veste (informal)
to take off one's jacket
tomber le masque (informal)
to drop the mask
Tomber conjugations
