Muerto / matado

Question

The difference between fue muerto and fue matado , is that there is no difference right? He was killed. Gracias.

Answer 1

Un muerto ..... A dead guy, a corpse

Estar muerto ..... To be dead

Se murió .... He, she it, died

Se mató .... He, she, it killed him, her, it self

Se mató en un choque .... He, she, it was killed in an crash

Fue matado - was killed (murdered). - Gekkosan, Mar 19, 2011

This too - 005faa61, Mar 20, 2011

Answer 2

You are using the passive voice ser + pp. In this construct, the verb used to form the pp must be transitive: link

Morir is usually intransitive, but according to the D R A E it has one transitive meaning: in that case it is the same as matar.

As far as being dead, it is estar muerto, not ser muerto.

Answer 3

If he died on his own it would be "es muerto" or you could say "ha muerto." If somebody killed him you would say "fue matado" or "ha ido matado."

"Ha muerto" - "Has died" and "Ha ido matado" - "Has been killed" are both for it being recent.

Are you suggesting that you wouldn't say "fue muerto"? for he was killed? Because that is what you say, fue muerto. - jeezzle, Mar 18, 2011

"fue muerto" would mean was dead. muerto means dead not killed. but I guess if you said that it could be understood. but from what i understand "muerto" suggest more of a natural death. - bailey009, Mar 18, 2011

Bailey, "ha muerido" does not exist in Spanish. You could say "ha muerto". It's an irregular verb. - hiladora, Mar 18, 2011

oh oops! thanks! - bailey009, Mar 18, 2011

"es muerto" is not quite correct either. "está muerto" - is dead. "ha ido matado" is not correct. You can pick either "fue matado" or "ha sido matado". - Gekkosan, Mar 19, 2011

Answer 4

Well I suppose it doesn't matter to him, but muerto is dead and matado to be killed.

But with ser it takes a different tone, that of matar and not morir. - jeezzle, Mar 18, 2011

fue muerto = he was killed, estaba muerto = he was dead. - jeezzle, Mar 18, 2011

the "estaba" there would not mean "was" it would take on the meaning "is" because it is something that is still happening. - bailey009, Mar 18, 2011

Was dead and is dead are the same thing. That is just semantics but thanks. - jeezzle, Mar 18, 2011

Answer 5

I like Julian's answer best. He's just missing the critical one: "fue matado" - was killed / murdered.

He is missing the other crucial one too, fue muerto, which was part of the question (fue muerto, fue matado) though I do like his answer in that it provides a lot of info. Would you agree that fue muerto = fue matado = was killed? Gracias. - jeezzle, Mar 20, 2011

Yes - Gekkosan, Mar 20, 2011

Answer 6

Here are the answers to this question over on WordReference.

I'm not sure I understood all of that. - Leatha, Mar 18, 2011