briser

Danish

Noun

briser c

1. indefinite plural of brise

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French briser, from Old French brisier (“to break to pieces by a shock or violent blow, bust”), from Late Latin brisāre. Of unknown further origin:

• Possibly of Celtic origin, from Transalpine Gaulish; compare Old Irish brisid, from Proto-Celtic *brestā (“fight”).
• Or of Germanic origin, from Frankish *bristijan, *bristan (“to break, split, shatter”), from Proto-Germanic *brestaną (“to break, burst”); compare English burst.

In either case, both of the above are considered to be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrest- (“to separate, burst”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁi.ze/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

briser

1. (transitive) to break; snap

   Synonyms: casser, rompre

   Est-ce que c’est vraiment une promesse si tu sais que tu vas la briser ?

   Is it really a promise if you know you’re going to break it?

2. (reflexive, se briser) to become broken; snap

   Synonyms: casser, rompre

Conjugation

infinitive	simple	briser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	brisant /bʁi.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		brisé /bʁi.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	brise /bʁiz/	brises /bʁiz/	brise /bʁiz/	brisons /bʁi.zɔ̃/	brisez /bʁi.ze/	brisent /bʁiz/
	imperfect	brisais /bʁi.zɛ/	brisais /bʁi.zɛ/	brisait /bʁi.zɛ/	brisions /bʁi.zjɔ̃/	brisiez /bʁi.zje/	brisaient /bʁi.zɛ/
	past historic2	brisai /bʁi.ze/	brisas /bʁi.za/	brisa /bʁi.za/	brisâmes /bʁi.zam/	brisâtes /bʁi.zat/	brisèrent /bʁi.zɛʁ/
	future	briserai /bʁiz.ʁe/	briseras /bʁiz.ʁa/	brisera /bʁiz.ʁa/	briserons /bʁiz.ʁɔ̃/	briserez /bʁiz.ʁe/	briseront /bʁiz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	briserais /bʁiz.ʁɛ/	briserais /bʁiz.ʁɛ/	briserait /bʁiz.ʁɛ/	briserions /bʁi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	briseriez /bʁi.zə.ʁje/	briseraient /bʁiz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	brise /bʁiz/	brises /bʁiz/	brise /bʁiz/	brisions /bʁi.zjɔ̃/	brisiez /bʁi.zje/	brisent /bʁiz/
	imperfect2	brisasse /bʁi.zas/	brisasses /bʁi.zas/	brisât /bʁi.za/	brisassions /bʁi.za.sjɔ̃/	brisassiez /bʁi.za.sje/	brisassent /bʁi.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brise /bʁiz/	—	brisons /bʁi.zɔ̃/	brisez /bʁi.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of briser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se briser
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se brisant /sə bʁi.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		brisé /bʁi.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me brise /mə bʁiz/	te brises /tə bʁiz/	se brise /sə bʁiz/	nous brisons /nu bʁi.zɔ̃/	vous brisez /vu bʁi.ze/	se brisent /sə bʁiz/
	imperfect	me brisais /mə bʁi.zɛ/	te brisais /tə bʁi.zɛ/	se brisait /sə bʁi.zɛ/	nous brisions /nu bʁi.zjɔ̃/	vous brisiez /vu bʁi.zje/	se brisaient /sə bʁi.zɛ/
	past historic2	me brisai /mə bʁi.ze/	te brisas /tə bʁi.za/	se brisa /sə bʁi.za/	nous brisâmes /nu bʁi.zam/	vous brisâtes /vu bʁi.zat/	se brisèrent /sə bʁi.zɛʁ/
	future	me briserai /mə bʁiz.ʁe/	te briseras /tə bʁiz.ʁa/	se brisera /sə bʁiz.ʁa/	nous briserons /nu bʁiz.ʁɔ̃/	vous briserez /vu bʁiz.ʁe/	se briseront /sə bʁiz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me briserais /mə bʁiz.ʁɛ/	te briserais /tə bʁiz.ʁɛ/	se briserait /sə bʁiz.ʁɛ/	nous briserions /nu bʁi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous briseriez /vu bʁi.zə.ʁje/	se briseraient /sə bʁiz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me brise /mə bʁiz/	te brises /tə bʁiz/	se brise /sə bʁiz/	nous brisions /nu bʁi.zjɔ̃/	vous brisiez /vu bʁi.zje/	se brisent /sə bʁiz/
	imperfect2	me brisasse /mə bʁi.zas/	te brisasses /tə bʁi.zas/	se brisât /sə bʁi.za/	nous brisassions /nu bʁi.za.sjɔ̃/	vous brisassiez /vu bʁi.za.sje/	se brisassent /sə bʁi.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brise-toi /bʁiz.twa/	—	brisons-nous /bʁi.zɔ̃.nu/	brisez-vous /bʁi.ze.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of se briser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

Derived terms

• brisant
• brise-glace
• briser la glace
• briser le cœur
• briser les couilles
• brisure
• cœur brisé
• les briser menues
• pâte brisée
• pluriel brisé
• syndrome du cœur brisé
• tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin elle se brise

Related terms

• bris

Further reading

• “briser” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “briser” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “briser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

briser m

1. indefinite plural of bris

Old French

Verb

briser

1. Alternative form of brisier

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-st are modified to s, st. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

		simple			compound
infinitive		briser			avoir brisé
gerund		en brisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		brisant
past participle		brisé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	bris	brises	brise	brisons	brisez	brisent
	imperfect	brisoie, briseie, brisoe, briseve	brisoies, briseies, brisoes, briseves	brisoit, briseit, brisot, briseve	brisiiens, brisiens	brisiiez, brisiez	brisoient, briseient, brisoent, brisevent
	preterite	brisai	brisas	brisa	brisames	brisastes	briserent
	future	briserai	briseras	brisera	briserons	briseroiz, brisereiz, briserez	briseront
	conditional	briseroie, brisereie	briseroies, brisereies	briseroit, brisereit	briseriiens, briseriens	briseriiez, briseriez	briseroient, brisereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	bris	bris	brist	brisons	brisez	brisent
	imperfect	brisasse	brisasses	brisast	brisissons, brisissiens	brisissoiz, brisissez, brisissiez	brisassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	brise	—	brisons	brisez	—

    Conjugation of briser (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

Synonyms

• quasser
• rumpre

Swedish

Noun

briser

1. indefinite plural of bris