Level B1 (Intermediate)
The French Word of the Day is se casser, meaning “to break” (a body part) or informally “to leave” or “to be off.” Keep reading for clear meanings and example sentences to help you use correctly.
Meaning
Pronunciation
Example sentences with IPA
Conjugation
Related lessons
Meaning
Se casser has two main meanings. Informally, it means “to leave” or “to be off,” like in Je me casse (I’m out of here). It also means “to break” when talking about body parts, such as Je me suis cassé la jambe (I broke my leg).
In the non-reflexive form, the verb casser means to break. For example, j’ai cassé une assiette (I broke a plate). Both je pars and je m’en vais also mean “I’m leaving” but these are normal speech and not slang.
Pronunciation
Example sentences
For this first example, allez is the second-person plural (vous) form of aller (to go). Here, allez means “come on”. Vingt-trois heures (literally twenty-three hours) is the 24-hour form of 11pm. This lesson explains telling time.
Allez, on se casse ! Il est déjà vingt-trois heures !
Come on, let’s get out of here! It’s already 11pm.
This sentence uses se casser in the imperative mood, which is used for giving commands. Casse-toi and cassez-vous can translate to “p*ss off!”, “get lost”, “beat it!”, “get out of here!” and “scram!”.
Casse-toi ! Tu fais trop de bruit et tu déranges les voisins !
P*ss off! You’re making too much noise and you’re bothering the neighbors!
This final sentence uses se casser with the meaning of “to break a body part”. This sentence is in the passé composé, a commonly used French past tense. This lesson covers vocabulary for body parts.
La femme s’est cassé la jambe au ski.
The woman broke her leg skiing.
Conjugation
Se casser is a regular ER verb. This means that its conjugation pattern is the same as parler (to speak).
Je me casse I’m out of here
Tu te casses You’re out of here (singular, informal)
Il, elle se casse He, she is out of here
Nous nous cassons We’re out of here
Vous vous cassez You’re out of there (plural, formal)
Ils, elles se cassent They’re out of here
Related lessons and words
- Partir to leave
- S’en aller to leave, to go, to be off
- Se barrer to split/leave (slang)
- Se tirer to take off (slang)
- Filer to dash off
