How to Say “Break” in Japanese

Ways to say it

Use 割る for splitting or cracking objects into pieces, such as breaking an egg for cooking or a glass. Use 壊す when you mean to damage a machine, a tool or a system so that it no longer works. Finally, use 砕く when you are crushing something into many small fragments or when using the term metaphorically, such as 'breaking a heart'.

Which one should you use?

The choice of verb depends on the nature of the break: 割る implies splitting or cracking (like a glass or an egg), 壊す implies making something non-functional (like a machine) and 砕く implies smashing or crushing something into fragments or using the word in a figurative sense (like breaking a dream).

Related words

Billiards, snooker: first shot (noun): ブレーク.

Physical space that opens up in something or between two things (noun): 割れ目, 隙間.

How does it change in a sentence?

While 割る is the transitive verb used to perform the action of breaking something, if you want to describe an object that is already in a broken or cracked state, such as a cracked plate, use the intransitive form 割れている.

How do you pronounce it?

waru