مَاتَ — يَمُوتُ “die” is Form I from the hollow-wāw root م-و-ت. Its long middle vowel alternates with short vowels or disappears from the spelling: مات، يموت, but مِتُّ، لم يمتْ، مُتْ. The perfect and imperfect therefore have to be learned together.
The verb is normally intransitive: the person, animal, plant, institution, or tradition that ceases to live or exist is its subject. Arabic does not use a passive equivalent of English was died, and it does not make the cause a direct-object-taking subject. When an agent actively causes death, use قتل “kill” or, in a different lexical and often more formal frame, Form IV أمات “cause to die.”
For the contraction itself, compare the hollow-verb overview.
Lookup card and principal parts
| Item | Form | Use |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | م-و-ت، Form I | hollow-wāw intransitive verb |
| perfect | مَاتَ | he/it died |
| imperfect | يَمُوتُ | he/it dies |
| imperative | مُتْ | die!; morphologically regular but normally hostile, literary, or quoted |
| maṣdar | مَوْتٌ | death, dying |
| active participle and common adjectives | مَائِتٌ؛ مَيِّتٌ / مَيْتٌ | مَائِت is the regular but uncommon participle; the two ميت vocalizations are the usual adjectives |
| passive | none in ordinary use | the core verb is intransitive |
The regular active-participle pattern gives مَائِت, but it is uncommon in ordinary modern description. Both مَيِّت and مَيْت are established standard adjectives. Classical grammarians sometimes describe a tendency to use مَيِّت for someone destined to die and مَيْت for someone already dead, but actual Classical and modern usage overlaps. Do not build a rigid meaning distinction on vowels that ordinary unvocalized writing does not display. In respectful notices, مُتَوَفًّى “deceased” is also common.
مات الكاتب بعد مرض قصير، ونشرت الصحف مقالات عن أعماله.
māta l-kātibu baʿda maraḍin qaṣīrin, wa-nasharati ṣ-ṣuḥufu maqālātin ʿan ʾaʿmālih.
The writer died after a short illness, and newspapers published articles about his work. (Formal neutral.)
تموت هذه النباتات إذا بقيت التربة جافة فترة طويلة.
tamūtu hādhihi n-nabātātu ʾidhā baqiyati t-turbatu jāffatan fatratan ṭawīla.
These plants die if the soil stays dry for a long time. (Formal explanatory register.)
The useful hollow-wāw paradigm
Before vowel-initial perfect endings, the long ā remains: مات، ماتت، ماتوا. Before consonant-initial suffixes, it contracts to مِتْـ: مِتُّ، مِتْنا، مِتْنَ. In the imperfect, the long ū remains unless a suffixless jussive or imperative forces shortening to مُتْ.
| Environment | Forms | Stem behavior |
|---|---|---|
| perfect | مَاتَ، مَاتَتْ، مِتُّ، مَاتُوا | long ā, but short i before consonantal suffixes |
| indicative | يَمُوتُ، تَمُوتِينَ، يَمُوتُونَ | long ū retained |
| subjunctive | لَنْ يَمُوتَ، لَنْ يَمُوتُوا | singular fatḥa; plural loses nūn |
| jussive | لَمْ يَمُتْ، لَمْ يَمُوتُوا | singular shortens; plural retains ū before وا |
| imperative | مُتْ، مُوتِي، مُوتَا، مُوتُوا | rare singular command; long ū returns with vowel-initial endings |
ماتت أشجار كثيرة خلال موجة الحر الأخيرة.
mātat ʾashjārun kathīratun khilāla mawjati l-ḥarri l-ʾakhīra.
Many trees died during the latest heat wave. (Formal.)
كدت أموت من البرد عندما تعطلت السيارة في الطريق.
kidtu ʾamūtu mina l-bardi ʿindamā taʿaṭṭalati s-sayyāratu fī ṭ-ṭarīq.
I nearly died of cold when the car broke down on the road. (Formal neutral.)
لم يمت التقليد، لكنه تغير مع مرور الوقت.
lam yamuti t-taqlīdu, lākinnahu taghayyara maʿa murūri l-waqt.
The tradition did not die out, but it changed over time. (Formal; metaphorical.)
The imperative مت is grammatically real, but meaning matters. Directing it at a person is hostile; outside quotation it appears mainly in literary rhetoric, dramatic dialogue, or compounds such as the negative command لا تمت in a medical or urgent context. A reference page should teach the form without presenting it as a socially neutral request.
Cause, place, and circumstance
1. مات من: an internal or immediate cause
من commonly introduces illness, hunger, thirst, cold, fear, or another condition conceptualized as the source of death. It also appears in hyperbole.
مات عدد من الحيوانات من العطش بعد جفاف الآبار.
māta ʿadadun mina l-ḥayawānāti mina l-ʿaṭashi baʿda jafāfi l-ʾābār.
A number of animals died of thirst after the wells dried up. (Formal news register.)
ضحكنا حتى كدنا نموت من الضحك.
ḍaḥiknā ḥattā kidnā namūtu mina ḍ-ḍaḥk.
We laughed until we nearly died laughing. (Informal hyperbole expressed in MSA.)
2. مات بسبب: explicit causal explanation
بسبب is useful for complex, external, or carefully attributed causes. It is particularly common in reports where the writer needs to distinguish cause from location.
مات المريض بسبب مضاعفات نادرة بعد العملية.
māta l-marīḍu bi-sababi muḍāʿafātin nādiratin baʿda l-ʿamaliyya.
The patient died because of rare complications after the operation. (Formal clinical register.)
Other formal causal expressions include نتيجة “as a result of” and متأثرا بـ “as a result of / succumbing to,” literally “affected by.”
مات الرجل متأثرا بجروح أصيب بها في الحادث.
māta r-rajulu mutaʾaththiran bi-jurūḥin ʾuṣība bihā fī l-ḥādith.
The man died from injuries he sustained in the accident. (Formal news register.)
3. مات في: location, event, or period
في normally locates the death: في المستشفى، في الحادث، في الحرب، في القرن الماضي. It does not by itself state the medical mechanism.
مات ثلاثة ركاب في الحادث، ونقل المصابون إلى المستشفى.
māta thalāthatu rukkābin fī l-ḥādithi, wa-nuqila l-muṣābūna ʾilā l-mustashfā.
Three passengers died in the accident, and the injured were taken to the hospital. (Formal news register.)
4. مات وهو...: circumstance at the time of death
A circumstantial وهو/وهي clause describes what the person was doing or what state they were in.
مات المسعف وهو يحاول إنقاذ طفل من المبنى.
māta l-musʿifu wa-huwa yuḥāwilu ʾinqādha ṭiflin mina l-mabnā.
The paramedic died while trying to rescue a child from the building. (Formal.)
Intransitivity and register
قتل السم الأسماك في النهر خلال ساعات.
qatala s-summu l-ʾasmāka fī n-nahri khilāla sāʿāt.
The poison killed the fish in the river within hours. (Formal; transitive causation.)
ماتت الأسماك في النهر بسبب السم.
mātati l-ʾasmāku fī n-nahri bi-sababi s-summ.
The fish in the river died because of the poison. (Formal; intransitive event.)
مات is direct and standard, but death is socially sensitive. Obituaries, condolences, and respectful announcements often prefer تُوُفِّيَ “passed away/died” or انتقل إلى رحمة الله “passed into God's mercy” (religious/formulaic). That is a register choice, not a claim that مات is grammatically informal or incorrect.
High-frequency collocations
| Collocation | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| مَاتَ مَوْتًا طَبِيعِيًّا | died a natural death (formal) |
| مَاتَ مِنَ الْجُوعِ / الْعَطَشِ | died of hunger/thirst (neutral/formal) |
| مَاتَ بِسَبَبِ | died because of (formal) |
| مَاتَ فِي حَادِثٍ | died in an accident (neutral/formal) |
| مَاتَ مُتَأَثِّرًا بِجُرُوحِهِ | died of his injuries (news register) |
| بَيْنَ الْحَيَاةِ وَالْمَوْتِ | between life and death (neutral/formal) |
Common Mistakes
Keeping long ū in the singular jussive
❌ لم يموت التقليد رغم تغير المجتمع.
Incorrect in formal MSA—the suffixless jussive shortens يموت to يمت.
✅ لم يمت التقليد رغم تغير المجتمع.
lam yamuti t-taqlīdu raghma taghayyuri l-mujtamaʿ.
The tradition did not die out despite social change.
Making the cause the subject of مات
❌ مات السم الأسماك في النهر.
Incorrect for ‘the poison killed the fish’—مات is intransitive, so the thing that died is its subject.
✅ ماتت أسماك النهر بسبب السم.
mātat ʾasmāku n-nahri bi-sababi s-summ.
The river's fish died because of the poison.
Using a passive auxiliary
❌ تم موت المريض مساء أمس.
Unnatural as a simple event report—Arabic uses the active intransitive verb مات, not a passive equivalent of English ‘was died’.
✅ مات المريض مساء أمس.
māta l-marīḍu masāʾa ʾams.
The patient died yesterday evening.
Confusing place with cause
❌ مات من المستشفى بعد العملية.
Incorrect for location—من means ‘from/of,’ whereas the place where death occurred takes في.
✅ مات في المستشفى بعد العملية.
māta fī l-mustashfā baʿda l-ʿamaliyya.
He died in the hospital after the operation.
Key Takeaways
- مات — يموت — موت belongs to the hollow-wāw root م-و-ت; compare مِتُّ، لم يمتْ، مُتْ.
- The verb is intransitive. Use قتل or another causative expression when an agent kills someone or something.
- Choose من for a source-like condition, بسبب for an explicit cause, and في for the place or event.
- The imperative exists morphologically but is normally hostile, literary, or quoted.
- مات is standard and direct; respectful announcements often prefer توفي or a conventional religious expression.
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