mourir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French mourir, from Old French morir, from Latin morīrī, variant of morī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mu.ʁiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

mourir

1. (intransitive) to die; to be dying
2. (figuratively, with "de") to be dying (of)

   Je meurs de faim ― I'm dying of hunger

3. (reflexive) to be dying
   • 1649, Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, Oraison funèbre de Henriette-Anne d'Angleterre:

     Ô nuit désastreuse ! ô nuit effroyable, où retentit tout à coup, comme un éclat de tonnerre, cette étonnante nouvelle : Madame se meurt, Madame est morte !

     O disastrous night! O terrible night, in which suddenly rings out, like a thunderclap, the shocking news: Madame is dying, Madame is dead!

Conjugation

Conjugation of mourir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	mourir
	compound	être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	mourant /mu.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	étant + past participle
past participle		mort /mɔʁ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	meurs /mœʁ/	meurs /mœʁ/	meurt /mœʁ/	mourons /mu.ʁɔ̃/	mourez /mu.ʁe/	meurent /mœʁ/
	imperfect	mourais /mu.ʁɛ/	mourais /mu.ʁɛ/	mourait /mu.ʁɛ/	mourions /mu.ʁjɔ̃/	mouriez /mu.ʁje/	mouraient /mu.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	mourus /mu.ʁy/	mourus /mu.ʁy/	mourut /mu.ʁy/	mourûmes /mu.ʁym/	mourûtes /mu.ʁyt/	moururent /mu.ʁyʁ/
	future	mourrai /muʁ.ʁe/	mourras /muʁ.ʁa/	mourra /muʁ.ʁa/	mourrons /muʁ.ʁɔ̃/	mourrez /muʁ.ʁe/	mourront /muʁ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	mourrais /muʁ.ʁɛ/	mourrais /muʁ.ʁɛ/	mourrait /muʁ.ʁɛ/	mourrions /muʁ.ʁjɔ̃/	mourriez /muʁ.ʁje/	mourraient /muʁ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of être + past participle
	future perfect	future of être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	meure /mœʁ/	meures /mœʁ/	meure /mœʁ/	mourions /mu.ʁjɔ̃/	mouriez /mu.ʁje/	meurent /mœʁ/
	imperfect2	mourusse /mu.ʁys/	mourusses /mu.ʁys/	mourût /mu.ʁy/	mourussions /mu.ʁy.sjɔ̃/	mourussiez /mu.ʁy.sje/	mourussent /mu.ʁys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	meurs /mœʁ/	—	mourons /mu.ʁɔ̃/	mourez /mu.ʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of être + past participle	—	simple imperative of être + past participle	simple imperative of être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Synonyms

• casser sa pipe
• clamecer
• clamser
• crever
• décéder
• expirer
• partir
• passer l’arme à gauche
• périr
• rendre l’âme
• succomber

Derived terms

• à mourir de rire
• mourir de faim
• mourir de sa belle mort
• mourir en odeur de sainteté

 

Related terms

• mort
• mouroir
• mortel

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: mouri
• Louisiana Creole: mouri

Further reading

• “mourir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French morir.

Verb

mourir

1. (intransitive) to die; to be dying

Descendants

• French: mourir
  • Haitian Creole: mouri
  • Louisiana Creole: mouri