Morrer (To Die) — Full Conjugation

Morrer means to die, and — despite the emotional weight of the word — its conjugation is almost fully regular. It is a second-conjugation (-er) verb: morro, morres, morre, morremos, morrem. The preterite is regular (morri, morreste, morreu, morremos, morreram), the subjunctive is regular, the future is regular. The one and only irregularity is the past participle — and here Portuguese has an elegant but crucial distinction: morrer has a double participle. The regular form morrido is used with ter in compound tenses; the irregular form morto is used with ser, estar, and as an adjective.

In addition, morrer is extraordinarily productive in everyday European Portuguese. Beyond its literal meaning, it pairs with de to describe overwhelming feelings (morrer de fome — to be starving; morrer de saudades — to miss terribly; morrer de rir — to die laughing; morrer de vergonha — to be mortified). Most of what you hear in everyday conversation is this figurative morrer de + noun construction, not people talking about actual death.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Literary. Built on the same stem as the preterite; the irregular participle morto is not used here.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

With ter, so the participle is morrido (regular).

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Repeated action up to now. With a verb like morrer, this tense is most natural in impersonal or collective contexts — tem morrido muita gente com a epidemia (a lot of people have been dying in the epidemic) — rather than about a specific individual.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Morrer is intransitive and describes something that happens to you rather than something you choose to do, so imperatives are rare in literal use. They appear almost exclusively in figurative expressions (morre de ciúmes — die of jealousy, as a taunt) or in fixed curses and wishes.

Affirmative:

Negative:

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

The double participle: morrido vs. morto

This is the most important thing to get right about morrer. There are two past participles:

• morrido — regular, used with ter (and in older writing, with haver) in compound tenses
• morto — irregular, used with ser (passive), estar (state), and as an adjective

Morto agrees in gender and number: morto, morta, mortos, mortas. Morrido is invariable when used with ter.

A subtle extra point: morto used with ser often shifts the sense toward to be killed rather than simply to die. Foi morto = he was killed. To say "he died" without agency, use the active morreu or faleceu (more formal).

Idiomatic uses of morrer de

The pattern morrer de + (noun) expresses an overwhelming feeling, physical or emotional. It is one of the most common constructions in everyday speech and is almost always hyperbole.

• morrer de fome — to be starving (literally "to die of hunger")
• morrer de sede — to be parched, dying of thirst
• morrer de sono — to be dead tired
• morrer de frio / de calor — to be freezing / boiling
• morrer de rir — to die laughing
• morrer de vergonha — to be mortified
• morrer de saudades — to miss (someone, something) terribly
• morrer de inveja — to be green with envy
• morrer de ciúmes — to be consumed with jealousy
• morrer de tédio / aborrecimento — to be bored to death
• morrer de amores por — to be madly in love with

With por instead of de, you get morrer por — to die for (something), either literally (to sacrifice your life for a cause) or figuratively (to be desperate for something).

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Morrer is a regular second-conjugation (-er) verb in every conjugated form. Only the past participle is irregular — and only in the form morto.
• Morrer has a double past participle: morrido (regular, used with ter in compound tenses) and morto (irregular, used with ser in the passive, estar for states, and as an adjective).
• Morto agrees in gender and number as an adjective: morto, morta, mortos, mortas.
• With ser, the passive foi morto often carries the sense was killed (an agent is implied). For a neutral died, use the active morreu or the more formal faleceu.
• The pattern morrer de + noun is everywhere in everyday Portuguese: morrer de fome, de sono, de rir, de saudades, de vergonha. Learn these as hyperbolic expressions, not literal statements.
• Dying of an illness takes the preposition de: morrer de cancro, morrer de pneumonia. Not com, not por.