mourir: conjugation and meaning · How to Learn French

Conjugations

All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to die.”

Present Présent

Habits, current states, and actions happening now.

mourir: Present, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	meurs	I die
tu	meurs	you die
il / elle / on	meurt	he / she / it dieson: we die / one dies
nous	mourons	we die
vous	mourez	you die
ils / elles	meurent	they die

IN A SENTENCEPresent example

Le personnage meurt à la fin du film.

The character dies at the end of the film.

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Passé composé

Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.

mourir: Passé composé, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	suis mort / suis morte	I died
tu	es mort / es morte	you died
il / elle / on	est mort / est morte	he / she / it diedon: we died / one died
nous	sommes morts / sommes mortes	we died
vous	êtes mort / êtes morte / êtes morts / êtes mortes	you died
ils / elles	sont morts / sont mortes	they died

IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example

Hier, le personnage est mort à la fin du film.

Yesterday, the character died at the end of the film.

With être, the participle agrees with the subject: feminine -e, plural -s. The table gives masculine and feminine alternatives; vous may be singular or plural. With on meaning we, plural agreement is also possible.

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Imperfect Imparfait

Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.

mourir: Imperfect, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	mourais	I used to die
tu	mourais	you used to die
il / elle / on	mourait	he / she / it used to dieon: we used to die / one used to die
nous	mourions	we used to die
vous	mouriez	you used to die
ils / elles	mouraient	they used to die

IN A SENTENCEImperfect example

Autrefois, le personnage mourait à la fin du film.

Back then, the character used to die at the end of the film.

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Future Futur simple

Future events and predictions.

mourir: Future, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	mourrai	I will die
tu	mourras	you will die
il / elle / on	mourra	he / she / it will dieon: we will die / one will die
nous	mourrons	we will die
vous	mourrez	you will die
ils / elles	mourront	they will die

IN A SENTENCEFuture example

Plus tard, le personnage mourra à la fin du film.

Later, the character will die at the end of the film.

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Conditional Conditionnel présent

Hypothetical events and polite requests.

mourir: Conditional, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	mourrais	I would die
tu	mourrais	you would die
il / elle / on	mourrait	he / she / it would dieon: we would die / one would die
nous	mourrions	we would die
vous	mourriez	you would die
ils / elles	mourraient	they would die

IN A SENTENCEConditional example

Le personnage mourrait à la fin du film.

The character would die at the end of the film.

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Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.

mourir: Present subjunctive, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	meure	(that) I die
tu	meures	(that) you die
il / elle / on	meure	(that) he / she / it dieson: (that) we die / one dies
nous	mourions	(that) we die
vous	mouriez	(that) you die
ils / elles	meurent	(that) they die

IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example

Il est possible que le personnage meure à la fin du film.

It is possible that the character dies at the end of the film.

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French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”

Meaning & usage

to die; to be dying
to be dying (of)

English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗

Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations