We construct motivic invariants of a subvariety of an algebraic torus from its tropicalization and initial degenerations. More specifically, we introduce an invariant of a compactification of such a variety called the ‘tropical motivic nearby fiber’. This invariant specializes in the schön case to the Hodge–Deligne polynomial of the limit mixed Hodge structure of a corresponding degeneration. We give purely combinatorial expressions for this Hodge–Deligne polynomial in the cases of schön hypersurfaces and matroidal tropical varieties. We also deduce a formula for the Euler characteristic of a general fiber of the degeneration.
