This seems to be some type of present tense, but guides to verb tense only give the following two options: present progressive tense and present perfect tense.
Present progressive tense uses a present participle "I am breaking", and
present perfect tense uses the past participle, but with "have", e.g., "I have broken".
Wikipedia tells me that "I am broken" is a stative passive sentence construct. That is, "broken" is an ordinary adjective derived from a past participle and denotes a state. But it seems to me that "breaking" and "broken" can both be states that serve the same function in English. For instance, the state of breaking can be used to describe something (at least in engineering) that is progressively deteriorating. "The car's suspension is breaking" could be used when the car still drives but it is a poor ride.
So why is it that "breaking" is treated a participle that forms a new verb tense and "broken" is a participle that just functions as an adjective? This distinction seems like convention rather than logic.
Any help is appreciated.
Best Answer
Present tense.
It is a basic sentence. Subject (I, a pronoun), verb (to be) first person, present tense, and a predicate adjective (broken, a description). Different meaning than "I am broke." The former, depending on the context, e.g. run down, tired, depressed, etc. The latter specifically means "out of money."
Moreover, there is also a past participle 'broken', but not in this case. The verb 'to be' is followed by a predicate nominative or predicate adjective. A past participle follows ‘to be' in the past as a description (the preterite tense). A past participle follows ‘to be' in the preterite tense to form the passive voice, presumed to be present with a “perpetrator.”
Some predicate adjectives are homophones, therefore homonyms, to a past participle, as in this case. The two 'brokens' are related, but different parts of speech. "I am broken," is similar to "I was broken." However 'am broken' only describes 'me,' and does not indicate BY WHOM. Whereas, I was broken by him, her, or myself (I broke myself is better grammar), states that I became broken and by whom in the passive voice).
"I was broken' with a different preposition that does not state 'by whom,' would form the plu perfect tense, e.g. "I was broken with nasty words."
The status is current (present); however, the past participle without a 'perpetrator' indicates that I WAS (simply) broken (the preterite tense).