morir Imperfect Subjunctive Conjugation
morir — to die
The imperfect subjunctive of morir uses the 'murie-' stem derived from the preterite third-person plural.
morir Imperfect Subjunctive Forms
When to Use the Imperfect Subjunctive
Use this for hypothetical 'if' statements (e.g., 'If I were to die...') or when the main verb is in the past and requires the subjunctive.
Notes on morir in the Imperfect Subjunctive
The stem is 'murier-', which comes from the preterite 'murieron'. This 'u' carries through all forms.
Example Sentences
Si yo muriera mañana, sería feliz.
If I were to die tomorrow, I would be happy.
yo
Tenía miedo de que murieran las plantas.
I was afraid that the plants might die.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Si murieras, te extrañaría mucho.
If you were to die, I would miss you a lot.
tú
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'moriera' with an 'o'.
Correct: muriera
Why: The imperfect subjunctive always builds off the preterite 3rd-person plural stem (murieron).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: muero
Morir is a radical stem-changer (o to ue) in the present tense, except for nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: morí
Morir is a stem-changer in the preterite, changing o to u in the third-person forms: murió and murieron.
Imperfect
yo: moría
Morir is regular in the imperfect: moría, morías, moría, moríamos, moríais, morían.
Future
yo: moriré
Morir is completely regular in the future tense: moriré, morirás, morirá, etc.
Conditional
yo: moriría
The conditional of morir is regular: moriría, morirías, moriría, moriríamos, moriríais, morirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: muera
Morir stem-changes to 'muer-' (boot forms) and 'mur-' (nosotros/vosotros) in the present subjunctive.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: muere
The imperative of morir is rarely used literally, except in poetic or dramatic contexts like 'muere!'.
Negative Imperative
yo: no mueras
The negative imperative of morir uses the present subjunctive forms preceded by 'no'.