pronoun question

Question

In the lesson on the preterite, the verb morir is introduced. The flashcards show that "se morió" means "he died".

Why must the pronoun "se" be included before this verb? The same is not done for "nació".

Answer 1

We use morirse to indicate death from natural causes such as old age, and morir to indicate death from unnatural causes such as a criminal being killed in a shoot-out with the police.

Note spelling of past tense: murió (with U).

There is only one way to be born, which is the natural way, so se is not used with nacer.

Thank you. - colemanok, Sep 16, 2013

Answer 2

I don't really know how to explain it, and I don't know if even a native could do a better job, but the verb "morir" is very often used with a reflexive pronoun. It has the same meaning with or with out though.
"se morió" and "morió", they're the same, though I'd say the one with se is more common.

Answer 3

Thank you!