All German word comparisons · Back to the topic overview
Meaning, sentence patterns and examples
| Word | Core meaning | Typical context | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|
| brechen | break; break a rule or commitment | physical breakage and figurative breaches | Strong: brach, gebrochen; auxiliary depends on transitivity and sense. |
| abbrechen | break off; discontinue | parts, studies, experiments and events | Separable; brach ab, abgebrochen; hat or ist by sense. |
| unterbrechen | interrupt; suspend temporarily | speech, work and connections | Inseparable; unterbrach, hat unterbrochen; accusative object. |
| zerbrechen | break apart; shatter or break an object | fragile objects and figurative breakdown | Inseparable; zerbrach, zerbrochen; hat transitive, ist intransitive. |
brechen
Meaning and usage: Brechen can describe causing something to break or something breaking. It also appears with rules and promises. In a physical example, the object distinguishes breaking a branch from a branch breaking under pressure.
Grammar: Strong, nonseparable: bricht, brach, gebrochen. Causing breakage takes an accusative object and haben. For an object itself breaking, use sein: Der Ast ist gebrochen. Other senses have their own constructions.
Der dünne Ast bricht unter der Last.
The thin branch breaks under the weight.
abbrechen
Meaning and usage: Abbrechen describes detaching a part or ending an activity prematurely. It does not require a physical break. Cancelling an experiment midway is different from simply pausing it, even if you later start another experiment.
Grammar: Strong and separable: bricht ab, brach ab, abgebrochen. Ending an accusative activity uses haben. A part that breaks off itself, or a connection that cuts off, commonly uses sein.
Wegen des Gewitters haben wir die Wanderung abgebrochen.
Because of the thunderstorm, we abandoned the hike.
unterbrechen
Meaning and usage: Unterbrechen marks a disruption in a continuing activity or someone else's speech. A pause may be planned or unexpected. The verb suggests interrupted continuity; it does not guarantee that the activity will actually resume.
Grammar: Strong and inseparable: unterbricht, unterbrach, hat unterbrochen. Take an accusative person or activity. The prefix stays attached: ich unterbreche, not ich breche unter.
Entschuldigung, darf ich dich kurz unterbrechen?
Excuse me, may I interrupt you briefly?
zerbrechen
Meaning and usage: Zerbrechen highlights the resulting loss of an object's intact condition. It can describe accidental or deliberate damage. Figuratively, a friendship or alliance can zerbrechen. It does not always mean the object becomes many tiny fragments.
Grammar: Strong and inseparable: zerbricht, zerbrach, zerbrochen. Ich habe die Tasse zerbrochen names the cause with an accusative object. Die Tasse ist zerbrochen names the object's change.
Beim Umzug ist die blaue Schale zerbrochen.
The blue bowl broke during the move.
Overlap and context
Brechen and zerbrechen overlap in physical contexts; the latter often stresses breaking apart or the damaged result. Abbrechen and unterbrechen can both stop an activity, but differ in whether the current undertaking is discontinued or its flow is interrupted. Context decides whether later continuation is realistic.
Common mistakes
- Do not use unterbrechen for every cancelled event; a permanent cancellation is different from a pause.
- The participle is unterbrochen, without ge-.
- A broken bowl is ist zerbrochen; the person who caused it hat sie zerbrochen.
Memory aid: Ab stops or detaches; unter interrupts; zer points to the broken result.
Try it
You pause a meeting for ten minutes and plan to continue. Which verb fits best: abbrechen or unterbrechen?
Show the answer
unterbrechen
You suspend its continuation rather than abandon the current meeting.