Why do we say “I’m broke” not “I’m broken” ?

It's idiomatic, so the exact wording isn't according to any regular definition. Don't try to understand idioms in a literal way - it'll just confuse you. They're just things we say. Most native speakers using them have no idea of their etymology. Sometimes, nobody even knows their origin. For example, if I said I've had a square meal, or that it's brass-monkey weather, I think about 90% of the native speakers here would know *what* I meant, without knowing *why* we use those phrases. To break someone used to mean to cause them financial ruin - to remove all of their money. To leave them insolvent, destitute, bankrupt. Shakespeare used it that way, in the Merchant of Venice, for example.

These mean two different things. “I’m broke” means “I don’t have money.” “I’m broken” means “something is fundamentally wrong with me.”

'broke' is an adjective that means out of money. 'broken' means broken into pieces. It's also the past participle of 'to break'. If a person is described as 'broken' it means they're in despair and have lost hope.

"Broke" is a slang term for saying your bank account is empty/very low, "broken" is a cry for help "Hey want to come to dinner with us?" "Nah I'm broke" - I can't really afford to do that right now "Nah I'm broken" - sounds more like a mental health crisis If you're saying people say broke instead of broken for their mental health, you got me there. I could only assume it's word shortening but seems a little odd. Can't say I've come across it - but that could just be me

It’s an idiom.

completely different things lol

Broke can used as both an adjective to describe "having no money" and also as a past tense of the verb break, meaning to damage something. Broken is an adjective describing something that the *verb* broke has occurred to "I am broke, I have no money" "I broke my arm last week" "My arm is broken"

Broke as in "impoverished" or "bankrupt" comes from a now obsolete use of the verb "to break" which meant "to become impoverished." At that time broke was used as the past participle. There are many times where obsolete or archaic words are preserved in specific use cases. This is one of those.

Both are said. "I'm broke" means "I have no money" in the sense that you can no longer function normally as you don't have the capital to do it. "I'm broken" indicates that you're emotionally devastated or physically incapactitated. For what it is worth, "I'm house broken" means that you've learned to use the bathroom.

Because broken means you have a flaw in some way, or you don’t work like you should. Like a TV remote when broken won’t work. Broke however means you don’t have any money, a very different thing. Not having money isn’t a flaw with the person, or something with the person which doesn’t work as it should. They’re two different words with two different meanings.

"broke" is slang for having no money "broken" is not Simple as that

Cuz that would mean something else

Just to add to/expand on what others have already said: to describe a person *in toto* as “broken” is very unusual, and almost existential. If it’s used at all (and it’s very rare) it’s a statement about mental health, self-esteem, or maybe succumbing to questioning under torture. More typically, whether being used literally or figuratively, “broken” is applied to some specific part of the person or the psyche: “his heart is broken” is probably the most common, although it certainly can be applied to more concrete things, especially bones or bone-related parts (back, neck). “Broke” though, is pretty much *always* financial.

You can say "I'm broken," but it doesn't mean the same thing as "I'm broke." "I'm broke" = "I don't have any money." "I'm broken" = "I've been damaged in a way that it may not be possible to heal from."

Google has the answer https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/66746/what-is-the-origin-of-the-expression-im-broke Most of the posters here aren't 100% accurate this link does a good job.