The verb craquer (to crack)—not to be confused with croquer (to crunch/bite)—is an interesting word as it can be used in a variety of ways, often in situations that involve strong emotions, either positive or negative. When used informally, craquer has many meanings that range from “breaking down” to “falling in love."

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In a negative context, craquer can mean to crack up, or crack under pressure:

François est dégoûté. Il craque.

François is disgusted. He's cracking up.

Caption 35, Oldelaf - Le monde est beau

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Craquer can also describe something or someone cracking under pressure:

Continue à faire des films aussi flingués et les cités vont craquer.

Continue making gun movies like always and the housing estates are going to crack.

Captions 51-52, Alain Etoundi - Allez tous vous faire enfilmer! - Part 1

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It can also refer to someone "giving in" or "caving":

Bon, j'ai craqué parce que...

Well, I caved because...

Caption 52, Le Jour où tout a basculé - À l'audience - Arnaque en couple ? - Part 3

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While craquer means to crack under pressure, faire craquer quelqu’un means to cause someone to crack or to break someone’s spirit, like the mother in the video below who tried to faire craquer (break down) her son’s girlfriend:

Sa mère voulait me faire craquer.

His mother wanted to break me down.

Caption 34, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Ma mère fait tout pour briser mon couple - Part 3

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At the other end of the spectrum, however, craquer can describe a positive experience. It's slang for “to fall in love." In the example below, the French pianist Christine Ott is asked:

C'est ce qui t'a fait craquer, toi, pour cet instrument?

Is that what made you fall in love with this instrument?

Caption 4, Alsace 20 - Femmes d'exception: Christine Ott

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And the singer Melissa Mars "fell head over heels" for her project "Et Alors!":

Et voilà, donc du coup, ben évidemment j'ai craqué sur ce projet,

And there, so as a result, well of course I fell head over heels for this project,

Caption 23, Melissa Mars - Et Alors!

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In the following example, shoppers "fell" for some Christmas ornaments:

Et ben on a craqué sur des choses un petit peu typiques, euh...

And, well, we fell for things that are a little bit typical, uh...

Caption 10, Alsace 20 - Ouverture du marché de Noël de Colmar

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And, of course, craquer sur also means to fall for a person:

J'avais complètement craqué sur elle

I'd completely fallen for her

Caption 68, Le Jour où tout a basculé - J'ai piégé mon fan - Part 2

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Likewise, faire craquer can mean to make someone fall for someone:

Je pouvais avouer, ouais, qu'elle m'a fait craquer

I could confess, yeah, that she made me fall for her

Captions 32-33, Harmelo - Mets Ton Masque Ft. Jade L x Ghetto

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On a spookier note, craquer can mean to creak, as in the sound the floor makes in this couple’s haunted apartment:

Ah, c'est le plancher qui craque.

Ah, it's the floor that's creaking.

Caption 17, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Notre appartement est hanté - Part 3

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And for a little bit of humor, craquer (to rip) can describe a wardrobe mishap. In this video, Elisa and Mashal look at old photographs, and Mashal remembers when her pants ripped in the middle:

Enfin, quand j'avais dansé mon pantalon qui avait craqué au mil'...

Well, when I'd been dancing, my pants, which had ripped in the mid'...

Caption 82, Elisa et Mashal - Photos

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Or when referring to shoes, you can say that they are sur le point de craquer (about to burst). In "J'aurais bien voulu," the singer of the ska band Babylon Circus talks about his battered ego sagging down to his socks to the point that his godasses (shoes) are sur le point de craquer (about to burst):

J'ai l'ego dans les chaussettes et les godasses sur le point de craquer

My ego's in my socks and my shoes are about to burst

Caption 30, Babylon Circus - J'aurais bien voulu

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There’s another colloquial expression that paints a similar picture, plein à craquer, which means “bursting at the seams” or “overcrowded”:

Les hôpitaux sont pleins à craquer.

The hospitals are completely overcrowded.

Don't confuse craquer with the English loanword cracker, which means "hacker":

Des crackers ont piraté le logiciel.

Some hackers hacked into the software. 

(Un cracker can also be of the edible kind… a cracker!).

The noun un craque doesn’t refer to "cracking" at all. It's slang for un mensonge (a lie):

Mais si tous mes craques t'indiffèrent

But if all my lies leave you indifferent

Caption 28, Mademoiselle K (avec Zazie) - Me taire te plaire

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The English noun “crack,” as in a crack in the wall, is une fissure in French, and the verb is fissurer (to crack), as mentioned in this video about the Liverdun Church during the Second World War:

Parce qu'elle a été fissurée pendant la dernière Guerre mondiale.

Because it was cracked during the last World War.

Caption 76, Lionel - L'église de Liverdun - Part 2

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There are other instances when “crack” doesn’t translate as craquer in French. For example, “to crack a joke” is simply raconter une blague (to tell a joke), Lionel’s specialty in his Yabla videos:

Lionel adore raconter des blagues sur Yabla.

Lionel loves telling jokes on Yabla.

And when you "crack up" at a joke, you éclater de rire (burst out laughing):

Les blagues de Lionel me font toujours éclater de rire.

Lionel's jokes always crack me up.

One last thing you can do with craquer in French is craquer une allumette (strike a match):

On peut craquer une allumette pour voir dans le noir.

We can strike a match to see in the dark.

Nous espérons que vous avez craqué sur cette leçon (We hope you fell for this lesson)!