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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

brechen

to break

  • #249 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: gebrochen

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I break
  2. du you break
  3. er, sie, es he/she breaks
  4. wir we break
  5. ihr you all break
  6. sie, Sie they break

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I broke
  2. du you broke
  3. er, sie, es he/she broke
  4. wir we broke
  5. ihr you all broke
  6. sie, Sie they broke

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have broken
  2. du you have broken
  3. er, sie, es he/she has broken
  4. wir we have broken
  5. ihr you all have broken
  6. sie, Sie they have broken

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will break
  2. du you will break
  3. er, sie, es he/she will break
  4. wir we will break
  5. ihr you all will break
  6. sie, Sie they will break

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would break
  2. du you would break
  3. er, sie, es he/she would break
  4. wir we would break
  5. ihr you all would break
  6. sie, Sie they would break

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du break!
  2. ihr break! (all of you)
  3. Sie break! (formal)

How to use brechen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Vorsicht, der Ast bricht gleich!

    Careful, the branch is about to break!

  2. Simple past

    Er brach sich beim Skifahren das Bein.

    He broke his leg skiing.

  3. Perfect

    Ich habe mir den Arm gebrochen.

    I've broken my arm.

  4. Future

    Ich werde mein Versprechen nicht brechen.

    I won't break my promise.

  5. Conditional

    Das dünne Eis würde sofort brechen.

    The thin ice would break at once.

  6. Imperative

    Brich die Schokolade in kleine Stücke.

    Break the chocolate into small pieces.

Good to know

  • Brechen takes haben when you break something and sein when something breaks, der Ast ist gebrochen; "sich den Arm brechen" is breaking your arm.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.