casser

See also: câsser

French

Etymology

From Old French quasser, from Latin quassāre, present active infinitive of quassō, influenced by Late Latin cassāre (“to annul”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.se/, /kɑ.se/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

casser

1. to break
2. to break up (with somebody)

Conjugation

Conjugation of casser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	casser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cassant /ka.sɑ̃/ or /kɑ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cassé /ka.se/ or /kɑ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	casse /kas/ or /kɑs/	casses /kas/ or /kɑs/	casse /kas/ or /kɑs/	cassons /ka.sɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sɔ̃/	cassez /ka.se/ or /kɑ.se/	cassent /kas/ or /kɑs/
	imperfect	cassais /ka.sɛ/ or /kɑ.sɛ/	cassais /ka.sɛ/ or /kɑ.sɛ/	cassait /ka.sɛ/ or /kɑ.sɛ/	cassions /ka.sjɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sjɔ̃/	cassiez /ka.sje/ or /kɑ.sje/	cassaient /ka.sɛ/ or /kɑ.sɛ/
	past historic2	cassai /ka.se/ or /kɑ.se/	cassas /ka.sa/ or /kɑ.sa/	cassa /ka.sa/ or /kɑ.sa/	cassâmes /ka.sam/ or /kɑ.sam/	cassâtes /ka.sat/ or /kɑ.sat/	cassèrent /ka.sɛʁ/ or /kɑ.sɛʁ/
	future	casserai /ka.sʁe/ or /kɑ.sʁe/	casseras /ka.sʁa/ or /kɑ.sʁa/	cassera /ka.sʁa/ or /kɑ.sʁa/	casserons /ka.sʁɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sʁɔ̃/	casserez /ka.sʁe/ or /kɑ.sʁe/	casseront /ka.sʁɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	casserais /ka.sʁɛ/ or /kɑ.sʁɛ/	casserais /ka.sʁɛ/ or /kɑ.sʁɛ/	casserait /ka.sʁɛ/ or /kɑ.sʁɛ/	casserions /ka.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	casseriez /ka.sə.ʁje/ or /kɑ.sə.ʁje/	casseraient /ka.sʁɛ/ or /kɑ.sʁɛ/
(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	casse /kas/ or /kɑs/	casses /kas/ or /kɑs/	casse /kas/ or /kɑs/	cassions /ka.sjɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sjɔ̃/	cassiez /ka.sje/ or /kɑ.sje/	cassent /kas/ or /kɑs/
	imperfect2	cassasse /ka.sas/ or /kɑ.sas/	cassasses /ka.sas/ or /kɑ.sas/	cassât /ka.sa/ or /kɑ.sa/	cassassions /ka.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sa.sjɔ̃/	cassassiez /ka.sa.sje/ or /kɑ.sa.sje/	cassassent /ka.sas/ or /kɑ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	casse /kas/ or /kɑs/	—	cassons /ka.sɔ̃/ or /kɑ.sɔ̃/	cassez /ka.se/ or /kɑ.se/	—
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).

Synonyms

• briser

Derived terms

• à tout casser
• ça passe ou ça casse
• casse
• casse-noisette
• casse-noix
• casser du sucre sur le dos de
• casser la baraque
• casser la croûte
• casser la gueule
• casser les burnes
• casser les couilles
• casser les pieds
• casser sa pipe
• gueule cassée
• j't'ai cassé
• ne pas casser trois pattes à un canard
• on ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs
• payer les pots cassés
• se casser
• se casser la nénette
• se casser le cul
• s'y casser les dents
• tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse

 

Related terms

• cas

Further reading

• “casser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• crasse, sacres, sacrés

Old French

Verb

casser

1. Alternative form of quasser

Conjugation

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

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		casser			avoir cassé
gerund		en cassant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		cassant
past participle		cassé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	cas	casses	casse	cassons	cassez	cassent
	imperfect	cassoie, casseie, cassoe, casseve	cassoies, casseies, cassoes, casseves	cassoit, casseit, cassot, casseve	cassiiens, cassiens	cassiiez, cassiez	cassoient, casseient, cassoent, cassevent
	preterite	cassai	cassas	cassa	cassames	cassastes	casserent
	future	casserai	casseras	cassera	casserons	casseroiz, cassereiz, casserez	casseront
	conditional	casseroie, cassereie	casseroies, cassereies	casseroit, cassereit	casseriiens, casseriens	casseriiez, casseriez	casseroient, cassereient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	cas	cas	cast	cassons	cassez	cassent
	imperfect	cassasse	cassasses	cassast	cassissons, cassissiens	cassissoiz, cassissez, cassissiez	cassassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	casse	—	cassons	cassez	—