Break someone's heart means to hurt someone deeply, most often by ending a relationship. The second meaning is to make someone very sad: It breaks my heart to see… Here it's about pity and sadness, not romance.
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break + my/his/her/someone's + heart; it breaks my heart to + verb; be heartbroken
- He broke her heart when he moved to Canada without saying goodbye.
- It breaks my heart to see so many empty shops on our old high street.
- Selling my grandmother's house broke my heart, but we couldn't afford to keep it.
What changed
First versionWhen she moved abroad, she broke him the heart.
RevisionWhen she moved abroad, she broke his heart.
English shows whose heart it is with a possessive word: broke his heart. Broke him the heart, with an object pronoun and the, isn't how English builds this phrase and sounds like a mistake.
If someone's heart is already broken, say be heartbroken: I was heartbroken when we split up. Break up is the breakup itself, with nothing about feelings: They broke up last year.
Your turn
My daughter cried all night because her first boyfriend broke ___.
Show the answer
her heart — The heart belongs to the daughter, so it's her heart. Her the heart adds an object pronoun and an article where English only uses a possessive, so it sounds wrong.
Describe an event that upset you deeply. Say what happened and explain why it was so hard.
It broke my heart when our old dog died, because he had been with us for fourteen years.
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