él se murió instead of just él murió.

Question

Hola. I was wondering why you need the "se" in this sentence él se morió instead of just él morió. Gracias. Lynn

• Hello and welcome to the forum. Can I make a correction? It's "se murió" or "murió". With a "u". If you wave any doubt, please check the verb conjugation of "morir". - maria_k Aug 25, 2010
• By the way, although you may (or may not) need the "se", you may not need the "él" if the prior context makes it clear that it is an "él" who has died. - Janice Aug 25, 2010

Answer 1

In fact, this verb is shown in my Gran Diccionario Oxford both as an intransitive verb "morir" and a pronominal one, "morirse".

I suppose that those of us who do not "feel" when to employ the one or the other must closely study the examples:

Here the definition for the word as an intransitive verb:

a [persona] to die;

morir ahogado --> to drown;

Murió asesinada. --> She was murdered;

morir DE algo --> to die of something;

morir de vejez/de muerte natural --> to die of old age/of natural causes;

Murió de hambre. --> she starved to death;

Murieron por su patria. --> They died for their country;

¡Muera el dictador! --> Death to the dictator!;

¡Y allí muere! (AmC fam) --> And that's all there is to it!;

hasta morir (Méx fam):

A fiesta va a ser hasta morir. --> We're going to party till we drop (colloq)

There is literary use of the word, too:

b (liter) [civilización/costumbre] to die out;

cuando muere la tarde --> as the day draws to a close (liter);

El río va a morir a la mar. --> The river runs to the sea.

Here is then the definition with examples for the pronominal form, morirse:

Se me murió la perra. --> My dog died;

No te vas a morir por ayudarlo. (fam) --> It won't kill you to help him (colloq);

Como se entere me muero. (fam) --> I'll die if she finds out. (colloq);

¡Por mí que se muera! --> He can drop dead for all I care (colloq);

que me muera si miento --> cross my heart and hope to die (colloq);

¡Muérete! me caso el sábado. (fam) --> You'll never guess what! I'm getting married on Saturday! (colloq);

morirse DE algo:

Se murió de un infarto. --> He died of a heart attack;

morir de miedo/aburrimiento --> to be scared stiff/bored stiff;

Me muero de frío. --> I'm freezing;

Me estoy muriendo de hambre. --> I'm starving (colloq);

Es para morirse de risa. --> It's hilariously funny;

Me muero de ganas de verlos. --> I'm dying to see them (colloq);

morirse POR algo/alguien:

Me muero por una cerveza. --> I'm dying for a beer (colloq);

Se muere por ella. --> He's nuts or crazy about her (colloq);

morirse POR + INF --> to be dying to + inf (colloq)

Unfortunately, the dictionary does not explain "why" ... what leads to using the pronominal form. Maybe it is a question for a linguist.

Answer 2

I found this on the web:

Morir vs Morirse

In informal speech morir is commonly used in the pronominal form morirse: cuando se murió = when he died. In Mexico, this pronominal use is by far the more common form. Butt & Benjamin (2000:369) suggest that the pronominal form indicates a more "natural" death, while morir on its own implies death in an accident etc. But in Mexico at least, the pronominal form is commonly used for either case, so that, for example, it is normal to say se murió en un accidente (a form which Butt & Benjamin claim is not used in this case). The difference between morir and morirse here appears to be one of register.

Also this question has been asked here before: here's the link Morir vs Morirse 2