Mourir Conjugation in French
mourir means “to die” in English, and it is a verb French learners meet early and use often. This page gives you the complete conjugation of mourir — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Je meurs de rire.” — “I die of laughter.” Learning the forms on this page first, before you try to use the verb in conversation, saves you from guessing later: French spelling and endings change with the person and the tense, and mourir is no exception. Work through the tables one tense at a time, say each form aloud, and then test yourself with the quiz at the end.
Quick facts
- Infinitive: mourir
- English: to die
- Verb type: Irregular -ir verb
- Irregular in: present, passe-simple, future, conditional, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative, gerund, past-participle
- Gerund: en mourant
- Past participle: mort
- Auxiliary: être (all perfect tenses are formed with être + the past participle)
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for mourir, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for mourir. Learn the present tense first, then the passé composé and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | meurs |
| tu | meurs |
| il/elle | meurt |
| nous | mourons |
| vous | mourez |
| ils/elles | meurent |
Passé simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | mourus |
| tu | mourus |
| il/elle | mourut |
| nous | mourûmes |
| vous | mourûtes |
| ils/elles | moururent |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | mourais |
| tu | mourais |
| il/elle | mourait |
| nous | mourions |
| vous | mouriez |
| ils/elles | mouraient |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | mourrai |
| tu | mourras |
| il/elle | mourra |
| nous | mourrons |
| vous | mourrez |
| ils/elles | mourront |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | mourrais |
| tu | mourrais |
| il/elle | mourrait |
| nous | mourrions |
| vous | mourriez |
| ils/elles | mourraient |
Present perfect (passé composé)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | suis mort |
| tu | es mort |
| il/elle | est mort |
| nous | sommes mort |
| vous | êtes mort |
| ils/elles | sont mort |
Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | étais mort |
| tu | étais mort |
| il/elle | était mort |
| nous | étions mort |
| vous | étiez mort |
| ils/elles | étaient mort |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serai mort |
| tu | seras mort |
| il/elle | sera mort |
| nous | serons mort |
| vous | serez mort |
| ils/elles | seront mort |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | serais mort |
| tu | serais mort |
| il/elle | serait mort |
| nous | serions mort |
| vous | seriez mort |
| ils/elles | seraient mort |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | meure |
| tu | meures |
| il/elle | meure |
| nous | mourions |
| vous | mouriez |
| ils/elles | meurent |
Imperfect subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | mourusse |
| tu | mourusses |
| il/elle | mourût |
| nous | mourussions |
| vous | mourussiez |
| ils/elles | mourussent |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | meurs |
| nous | mourons |
| vous | mourez |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | meurs |
| nous | mourons |
| vous | mourez |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | French |
|---|---|
| Gerund | en mourant |
| Past participle | mort |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Je meurs de rire.” — “I die of laughter.”
Passé simple
The passé simple is used for completed actions in the past, mainly in written and literary French. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Tu mourus de rire.” — “You died of laughter one day.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Il mourait de rire quand j’étais jeune.” — “He used to die of laughter.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and promises. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Nous mourrons de rire.” — “We will die of laughter tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Vous mourriez de rire.” — “You would die of laughter if you could.”
Present perfect (passé composé)
The present perfect (passé composé) is used for recent past actions and completed events. With mourir it is formed with être + the past participle mort. For example: “Ils sont mort de rire hier.” — “They died of laughter yesterday.”
Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)
The pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “J'étais mort de rire avant la fête.” — “I had died of laughter before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Tu seras mort de rire.” — “You will have died of laughter by tomorrow evening.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Il serait mort de rire.” — “He would have died of laughter if he had been able to.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Il faut que je meure de rire.” — “It is important that I die of laughter.”
Imperfect subjunctive
The imperfect subjunctive is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, mainly in formal writing. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Il fallait que je mourusse de rire.” — “It was important that I die of laughter.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Meurs de rire !” — “Die of laughter!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. With mourir this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Meurs de rire !” — “Do not die of laughter!”
Gerund and past participle
The gerund is en mourant — “while dying” — used after en to say how something happens. The past participle is mort, used with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis mort.
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with mourir, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the French and try to produce it from the English.
- “Je meurs de rire.” — “I die of laughter.”
- “Tu meurs de rire.” — “You die of laughter.”
- “Il mourait de rire.” — “He used to die of laughter.”
- “Nous mourrons de rire.” — “We will die of laughter tomorrow.”
- “Je mourrais de rire.” — “I would die of laughter if I could.”
- “Tu es mort de rire.” — “You died of laughter yesterday.”
- “Il était mort de rire.” — “He had died of laughter before the party.”
- “Nous serons mort de rire.” — “We will have died of laughter by tomorrow evening.”
- “Il faut que je meure de rire.” — “It is important that I die of laughter.”
- “Meurs de rire !” — “Die of laughter!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Je mourir de rire.”
✓ Right: “Je meurs de rire.”
The infinitive mourir never takes a subject. After je you need the conjugated present form meurs.
2. Confusing mourir with naître
✗ Wrong: “Je meurs en France.” (meant as “naître”)
✓ Right: “Je meurs de rire.”
mourir means “to die”; naître means “to be born”. Keep the two verbs apart by their meaning, not by their sound.
3. Applying the regular pattern to mourir
✗ Wrong: “Je mour…” (a guessed regular form)
✓ Right: “Je meurs de rire.”
mourir is irregular in present, passe-simple, future, conditional, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative, gerund, past-participle. The present indicative form for je is meurs, not what the regular endings would give — learn it as a set.
4. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Il faut que je meurs de rire.”
✓ Right: “Il faut que je meure de rire.”
After il faut que French needs the subjunctive, so use meure here, not the indicative meurs.
5. Forgetting that the participle agrees with être
✗ Wrong: “Elle est mort.” (said of a woman, with the masculine form)
✓ Right: “Elle est morte.” — the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject when the auxiliary is être; the tables on this page give the masculine singular form mort.
With être the past participle agrees with the subject. The tables give the masculine singular; add -e for a feminine subject and -s for a plural one.
Quiz: test yourself
What is the je form of mourir in the Present indicative?
- A) mourons
- B) meurt
- C) mourez
- D) meurs
What is the ils/elles form of mourir in the Present indicative?
- A) mourons
- B) meurent
- C) meurs
- D) mourez
What is the il/elle form of mourir in the Passé simple?
- A) mourûmes
- B) mourut
- C) mourûtes
- D) mourus
What is the nous form of mourir in the Imperfect?
- A) mourions
- B) mouraient
- C) mourais
- D) mouriez
What is the tu form of mourir in the Future?
- A) mourront
- B) mourrai
- C) mourrons
- D) mourras
What is the je form of mourir in the Conditional?
- A) mourraient
- B) mourrions
- C) mourrais
- D) mourriez
What is the il/elle form of mourir in the Present perfect (passé composé)?
- A) est mort
- B) es mort
- C) êtes mort
- D) sont mort
What is the vous form of mourir in the Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)?
- A) étiez mort
- B) étaient mort
- C) étais mort
- D) étions mort
What is the gerund of mourir?
- A) en mourant
- B) mourrai
- C) mort
- D) meurs
What is the past participle of mourir?
- A) meurs
- B) mort
- C) en mourant
- D) mourais
Answer key
- D) meurs — the je form of mourir in the present indicative is meurs.
- B) meurent — the ils/elles form of mourir in the present indicative is meurent.
- B) mourut — the il/elle form of mourir in the passé simple is mourut.
- A) mourions — the nous form of mourir in the imperfect is mourions.
- D) mourras — the tu form of mourir in the future is mourras.
- C) mourrais — the je form of mourir in the conditional is mourrais.
- A) est mort — the il/elle form of mourir in the present perfect (passé composé) is est mort.
- A) étiez mort — the vous form of mourir in the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) is étiez mort.
- A) en mourant — the gerund of mourir is en mourant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
- B) mort — the past participle of mourir is mort; perfect tenses use être + mort.
Frequently asked questions
What does mourir mean in English?
mourir means “to die”. You use it in everyday situations like the examples on this page — for example, “Je meurs de rire.” (“I die of laughter.”). It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is mourir regular or irregular?
mourir is irregular, and it is irregular in these tenses: present, passe-simple, future, conditional, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative, gerund, past-participle. The gerund is en mourant and the past participle is mort.
What are the gerund and past participle of mourir?
The gerund is en mourant — use it after en for actions in progress. The past participle is mort — use it with être for the perfect tenses, as in suis mort.
What is the difference between mourir and naître?
mourir means “to die”, while naître means “to be born”. They are easy to mix up because they appear in similar situations, but their meanings are different. If you are unsure, check the full conjugation page for naître and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I die” in French?
Say “Je meurs de rire.” — “I die of laughter.” The je form of the present is meurs, and it is the form you will use most often.
How to learn mourir
Start with the present tense: meurs, meurs, meurt, mourons, mourez, meurent. Say them in order every day for a week, then add the passé composé — suis mort — and the imperfect — mourais. Next, learn the future (mourrai) and the conditional (mourrais), which share the same stem. Finally, tackle the subjunctive (meure) and the imperative (meurs). Write one sentence of your own in each tense, using the examples above as models, and check every form against the tables. When you can produce all six persons of the present without looking, move on to the present-tense quiz.
Related pages
- mourir in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in the present tense.
- mourir examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- French verbs — the full hub of French conjugation pages.
- French irregular verbs — every common irregular French verb, grouped by pattern.
- Naitre conjugation — another French verb to practise with.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Verb Conjugator — practise mourir with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise mourir with the interactive tool.
- Present Tense Conjugator — practise the present tense with the interactive tool.
- VerbFlow home — back to the start.