La mort inquiète Paul.

No. In La mort inquiète Paul, the subject is la mort and the direct object is Paul.

French word order here is the normal subject + verb + object pattern:

• La mort = subject
• inquiète = verb
• Paul = object

So the sentence means that death is causing worry to Paul.

If you changed the order to Paul inquiète la mort, that would mean Paul worries death, which is a completely different idea.

Because inquiéter takes a direct object when it means to worry someone.

So you say:

• inquiéter quelqu’un = to worry someone

That is why French uses Paul directly, with no preposition.

Compare:

• La mort inquiète Paul. = death worries Paul
• La mort fait peur à Paul. = death frightens Paul

With faire peur, you need à. With inquiéter, you do not.

French usually uses the definite article much more often than English, especially with abstract ideas and general concepts.

So French commonly says:

• la vie = life
• l’amour = love
• la mort = death

Here la mort means death in a general sense, not a specific individual death.

So even though English often drops the article, French normally keeps it.

Because mort here is a noun, not an adjective.

• la mort = death
• mort / morte can also be an adjective meaning dead

Examples:

• la mort = death
• un homme mort = a dead man
• une femme morte = a dead woman

So even though mort is a feminine noun in this sentence, its noun form is still spelled mort, not morte.

Yes, mort is a feminine noun, which is why it takes la.

But this is only grammatical gender, not biological sex. French nouns are assigned masculine or feminine gender whether or not the thing itself has natural sex.

So:

• la mort is feminine
• that does not mean death is literally female

This is just something you learn along with the noun.

Inquiète is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb inquiéter.

It agrees with the singular subject la mort.

Present tense:

• j’inquiète
• tu inquiètes
• il / elle / on inquiète
• nous inquiétons
• vous inquiétez
• ils / elles inquiètent

So in this sentence, la mort inquiète Paul, the verb is singular because la mort is singular.

This is a spelling change that happens in many forms of inquiéter.

The infinitive is:

• inquiéter

But in stressed present-tense forms, the é often changes to è:

• j’inquiète
• tu inquiètes
• il inquiète
• ils inquiètent

But:

• nous inquiétons
• vous inquiétez

So inquiète is just the correct present-tense spelling of the verb.

This is a very common question.

Inquiéter quelqu’un means to worry someone or to cause someone concern.

• La mort inquiète Paul.
  = Death worries Paul.

S’inquiéter de / pour means to worry about something or someone.

• Paul s’inquiète de la mort.
  = Paul worries about death.
• Paul s’inquiète pour sa mère.
  = Paul worries about his mother.

So:

• inquiéter = something worries someone
• s’inquiéter = someone worries about something

It is perfectly grammatical and natural, but it sounds a bit written, serious, or literary, because the subject is an abstract idea: la mort.

In everyday speech, French speakers might also say:

• Paul a peur de la mort. = Paul is afraid of death.
• La mort fait peur à Paul. = Death scares Paul.

These are often more conversational.

So La mort inquiète Paul is correct and natural, but it has a slightly more formal or thoughtful tone.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

la mor an-kyet Pol

More accurately:

/la mɔʁ ɛ̃.kjɛt pɔl/

A few helpful points:

• mort: the final t is silent
• there is normally no liaison between mort and inquiète
• inquiète ends with a pronounced t sound: -kyet
• Paul sounds like Pol

So the whole sentence flows roughly as:

la mor an-kyet Pol