मरना is the intransitive verb “die.” Its perfective is मरा/मरी/मरे/मरीं, agreeing with the person, animal, plant, or other living subject. Long-vowel मारना is a separate transitive verb meaning hit or kill; confusing the two changes both meaning and case structure.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is मर-. The perfective मरा may look simple, but learners must keep it distinct from मारा, the perfective of मारना.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | मरना |
| habitual | मरता / मरती / मरते |
| progressive | मर रहा / मर रही / मर रहे |
| perfective | मरा / मरी / मरे / मरीं |
| conjunctive | मरकर |
| simultaneous participle | मरते हुए |
| prospective | मरने वाला / मरने वाली / मरने वाले |
पानी न मिलने से बगीचे के कई पौधे मर रहे हैं।
pānī na milne se bagīce ke kaī paudhe mar rahe haiṃ.
Several plants in the garden are dying because they are not getting water.
इस प्रजाति के पेड़ बहुत कम उम्र में नहीं मरते।
is prajāti ke peṛ bahut kam umr meṃ nahīṃ marte.
Trees of this species do not die at a very young age.
The progressive describes dying as a process. Habitual forms are natural for generalizations; for a completed individual death, use the perfective or मर जाना.
Cause, time, and circumstance
A cause commonly takes से or के कारण: बीमारी से मरना, चोट के कारण मरना. A place or time phrase locates the event. Avoid using agentive ने, because the dying participant is not a transitive actor.
पुराना पेड़ बीमारी से मर गया।
purānā peṛ bīmārī se mar gayā.
The old tree died from disease.
दुर्घटना में दो पक्षी मर गए।
durghaṭnā meṃ do pakṣī mar gae.
Two birds died in the accident.
For human death, bare मरना can sound blunt. गुज़र जाना is a common respectful euphemism (polite/formal), and निधन होना/देहांत होना are (formal). Accuracy includes choosing a socially appropriate register, not only correct morphology.
Intransitive perfective and result state
The unmarked dying subject controls agreement, and no ने appears. मरा हुआ describes a dead result state; मर रहा describes the process of dying.
सुबह तालाब में कई मछलियाँ मरी मिलीं।
subah tālāb meṃ kaī machliyā̃ marī milīṃ.
Several fish were found dead in the pond in the morning.
रास्ते के किनारे एक मरा हुआ पेड़ खड़ा है।
rāste ke kināre ek marā huā peṛ khaṛā hai.
A dead tree is standing by the roadside.
Feminine plural मछलियाँ selects मरी inside the nonfinite description and plural मिलीं as the finite predicate. Masculine singular पेड़ selects मरा हुआ.
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | मरूँ | मरूँगा | मरूँगी |
| तुम | मरो | मरोगे | मरोगी |
| यह / वह | मरे | मरेगा | मरेगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | मरें | मरेंगे | मरेंगी |
Because death is generally non-volitional and sensitive, first- and second-person futures occur mainly in predictions, threats, hyperbole, or hypothetical contexts. They are morphologically ordinary but pragmatically restricted.
अगर पौधे को धूप नहीं मिली, तो वह मर जाएगा।
agar paudhe ko dhūp nahīṃ milī, to vah mar jāegā.
If the plant does not get sunlight, it will die.
दवा समय पर दी जाए ताकि कोई जानवर न मरे।
davā samay par dī jāe tāki koī jānvar na mare.
The medicine should be given on time so that no animal dies.
Imperative restrictions and participles
Forms मर, मरो, मरिए are morphologically possible, but a direct command “die!” is abusive (vulgar/offensive) and must not be treated as an ordinary classroom imperative. Fixed hyperbole such as मर जाऊँगा “I'll die” can be informal exaggeration, but tone matters.
Participles include मरता हुआ, मरा हुआ, मरते हुए, and मरने वाला. मरने वाला may mean “about to die” or simply “one who will die,” depending on context.
घायल जानवर को मरता हुआ छोड़ना ठीक नहीं था।
ghāyal jānvar ko martā huā choṛnā ṭhīk nahīṃ thā.
It was not right to leave the injured animal dying.
मर जाना, मर मिटना, and मारना
मर जाना presents death as a reached endpoint and is more frequent than bare perfective मरना in many everyday reports. जाना carries the finite inflection.
ठंड में बाहर रखा छोटा पौधा मर गया।
ṭhaṇḍ meṃ bāhar rakhā choṭā paudhā mar gayā.
The small plant left outside died in the cold.
मर मिटना means sacrifice oneself completely or be intensely devoted (literary/rhetorical). Expressions such as हँसते-हँसते मरना “die laughing” are informal hyperbole, not normally literal.
Transitive मारना adds a killer or hitter; indirect causative मरवाना means arrange to have someone killed and is semantically severe. In a perfective, these transitive verbs take ने.
शिकारी ने जानवर को नहीं मारा; वह बीमारी से मरा।
śikārī ne jānvar ko nahīṃ mārā; vah bīmārī se marā.
The hunter did not kill the animal; it died from illness.
The long vowel cleanly separates मारा “killed/hit” from मरा “died.” The wider family is catalogued under lexical irregular causatives.
Idiomatic extensions
शर्म से मरना, भूख से मरना, and थकान से मरना may be literal or hyperbolic depending on context. मरते दम तक means “until one's dying breath” (literary/emphatic).
वह पुरानी फ़िल्म देखकर हँसते-हँसते मर गया।
vah purānī film dekhkar hãste-hãste mar gayā.
He nearly died laughing while watching the old film. (informal hyperbole)
Common Mistakes
❌ बूढ़ा पेड़ ने मर गया।
Incorrect — intransitive मर जाना takes no ने.
✅ बूढ़ा पेड़ मर गया।
būṛhā peṛ mar gayā.
The old tree died.
❌ शिकारी ने हिरन मरा।
Incorrect for killing — use transitive मारना with long आ.
✅ शिकारी ने हिरन को मारा।
śikārī ne hiran ko mārā.
The hunter killed the deer.
❌ कई मछलियाँ मरा।
Incorrect — feminine plural मछलियाँ requires मरीं in a finite perfective.
✅ कई मछलियाँ मरीं।
kaī machliyā̃ marīṃ.
Several fish died.
❌ आपके दादा जी ने गुज़र गए।
Incorrect — respectful euphemism गुज़र जाना is intransitive and takes no ने.
✅ आपके दादा जी गुज़र गए।
āpke dādā jī guzar gae.
Your grandfather passed away. (respectful)
Key Takeaways
मरना is intransitive “die,” with subject agreement and no perfective ने. Distinguish process मर रहा, dead state मरा हुआ, and endpoint मर गया. Long-vowel मारना is transitive “hit/kill,” while human-death contexts often call for respectful गुज़र जाना, निधन होना, or देहांत होना.
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