Learning French: discover the many uses of the word tomber

If you ever learned the rule about certain French verbs requiring être to create a past tense, you will know that ‘falling’ is one of these. 

‘I have fallen over’ literally becomes ‘I am fallen’ (je suis tombée). This is no judgment on your morals. 

You might hear someone say Je suis tombée sur Fred hier, but there was probably no physical injury. They simply happened upon him – as we would say, ‘I bumped into Fred’ or ‘I ran into Fred’. 

Tomber sur is used figuratively to say that you unintentionally came across, or ran into, something. 

The first time I heard the expression elle est tombée dans les pommes, I was utterly bewildered: she fell into the apples? 

It simply means that she fainted or passed out, and no one quite knows why apples come into it, but I love the saying. 

You can also tomber amoureux (fall in love) or tomber d’accord (reach an agreement), but if someone tells you to let it fall (laisse tomber) it is their equivalent of ‘drop it’, so you need to stop talking. 

At this time of year, when it is raining heavily, you will probably hear your neighbours remark Mais qu’est-ce que ça tombe ! 

While our school books taught us il pleut, the locals are far more likely to say ça tombe, which is similar to ‘it is tipping down’. 

Finally, we have to mention a particular favourite, namely ça tombe bien (literally, it falls well). This is used when something happens at just the right moment, for those cases of perfect timing. 

So when it is tipping down and, in a moment of serendipity, you bump into your friend who has an extra umbrella to lend you, you might comment: ça tombe bien de tomber sur toi, Hélène, regarde comment ça tombe!