craquer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French craquer, from Middle Dutch kraken (“to crack, crackle”), from Old Dutch *krakōn, from Frankish *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“to crow, shout”).

Cognate with Old High German krahhōn, Old English cracian. More at crack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁa.ke/

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Verb

craquer

1. (ergative) to split, to break
2. (organic chemistry) to crack (petroleum)
3. (intransitive) to crack, to creak, to crunch
4. (informal, intransitive) to give up, to break down, to crack
5. (informal, followed by pour) to fall for, to become infatuated with, to yield to, give in to, fall in love with

   Elle est vraiment belle. J'ai craqué pour elle.

   She's so beautiful. I've fallen in love with her.

   • 2017, Bastien Vivès, Une sœur, Paris: Casterman, →ISBN, page 88:

     Je te le dis. Toutes les petites meufs vont craquer.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of craquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	craquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	craquant /kʁa.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		craqué /kʁa.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	craque /kʁak/	craques /kʁak/	craque /kʁak/	craquons /kʁa.kɔ̃/	craquez /kʁa.ke/	craquent /kʁak/
	imperfect	craquais /kʁa.kɛ/	craquais /kʁa.kɛ/	craquait /kʁa.kɛ/	craquions /kʁa.kjɔ̃/	craquiez /kʁa.kje/	craquaient /kʁa.kɛ/
	past historic2	craquai /kʁa.ke/	craquas /kʁa.ka/	craqua /kʁa.ka/	craquâmes /kʁa.kam/	craquâtes /kʁa.kat/	craquèrent /kʁa.kɛʁ/
	future	craquerai /kʁa.kʁe/	craqueras /kʁa.kʁa/	craquera /kʁa.kʁa/	craquerons /kʁa.kʁɔ̃/	craquerez /kʁa.kʁe/	craqueront /kʁa.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	craquerais /kʁa.kʁɛ/	craquerais /kʁa.kʁɛ/	craquerait /kʁa.kʁɛ/	craquerions /kʁa.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	craqueriez /kʁa.kə.ʁje/	craqueraient /kʁa.kʁɛ/
(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	craque /kʁak/	craques /kʁak/	craque /kʁak/	craquions /kʁa.kjɔ̃/	craquiez /kʁa.kje/	craquent /kʁak/
	imperfect2	craquasse /kʁa.kas/	craquasses /kʁa.kas/	craquât /kʁa.ka/	craquassions /kʁa.ka.sjɔ̃/	craquassiez /kʁa.ka.sje/	craquassent /kʁa.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	craque /kʁak/	—	craquons /kʁa.kɔ̃/	craquez /kʁa.ke/	—
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).

Derived terms

• à craquer
• craquage
• craquant
• craquelin

Further reading

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