What does “broke” mean in English slang? Learn how to use this word correctly.
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In today’s lesson, we’re going to talk about the term “broke.”
Literally, broke comes from the past tense of break (i.e. “I broke my arm”).
However, as slang, broke is an adjective and it means that you don’t have any money.
That’s right. If you are broke, it means you have no money.
This is a great term to know and use because you can use it in a formal and also in an informal way.
So whether you’re talking about the economy and business or just talking to your friends with a beer,
you can use the term broke in this way.
“I’d like to go on vacation, but I can’t. I’m broke.”
“James can’t lend you any money because he’s broke.”
“We can’t buy this car. We’ll go broke.”
“The business went broke in just a few months.”
As you’ve probably noticed from these examples, we can use it in a couple different ways.
One being to “be broke” such as, “I am broke” – meaning “I don’t have money.”
Or, to “go broke” such as, “The company went broke.” In this example, the company went broke.
That means the company became broke, going from a point of having money to no longer having money.
Make sure that you do not say “broken” in this situation if you’re using the slang to mean you don’t have money.
It has to be “broke,” not “broken.”
Well, I hope that you learned something in this short lesson.
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