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Falling for French Phrases
The French verb tomber, “to fall,” is found in many idiomatic expressions, including to faint, to be lucky, and to hit the nail on the head. Learn these and dozens of other French expressions featuring tomber.
Tomber translations
- to fall (down, over)
- to happen
- (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
- (familiar) to be/get busted/nicked
Proverb with tomber
| attendre que les alouettes lui tombent toutes rôties | to wait for things to fall into one’s lap |
Expressions with tomber
| tomber à l’eau | to fall in the water | ||
| tomber amoureux de quelqu’un | to fall in love with someone | ||
| tomber au champ d’honneur | to be killed in action | ||
| tomber bien bas | (figurative) | to sink really low | |
| tomber comme des mouches | to fall like flies | ||
| tomber comme un cheveu sur la soupe | (informal) | to turn up at a bad time, to be completely irrelevant / unexpected | |
| 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 arrive in the public domain, fall 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 des cordes | (informal) | to be pouring rain | |
| 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 over, 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 | ||
| se laisser tomber dans un fauteuil | to drop into an armchair | ||
| mal tomber | to occur at the wrong time; to be unlucky | ||
| ne pas être tombé de la dernière pluie | (figurative) | to not have been born yesterday | |
| Ça ne pouvait pas mieux tomber. | It couldn’t come / happen at a better time. | ||
| Ça tombe à point. | (informal) | That’s perfect timing. | |
| Ça tombe à pic. | (informal) | That’s perfect timing. | |
| Ça tombe bien. | That’s fortunate / convenient, That works out well. | ||
| Ça vient de tomber sur notre boîte email. | This just came by email. | ||
| Ce n’est pas tombé dans l’oreille d’un sourd. | It didn’t fall onto deaf ears. | ||
| L’eau tombe en cascades. | Water is cascading down . | ||
| Les écailles lui sont tombées des yeux. | The scales fell from his eyes. | ||
| La foudre est tombée. | Lightning struck. | ||
| Il a fallu que ça tombe sur moi ! | (ironic) | It (just) had to be me! | |
| 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! It’s tipping itdown! | |
For the vast majority of uses of tomber, including in all of the above expressions, the auxiliary verb is être. But there are a few informal phrases where tomber has a direct object, and for these, the auxiliary verb is avoir.
| tomber le masque | to drop the mask | |
| tomber quelqu’un | to beat, defeat someone | |
| tomber la veste | to take off one’s jacket |
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