Spanish vocabulary · Beginner
Boil in Spanish: Hervir
Hervir · verb · ehr-VEER
Hervir is the primary Spanish verb meaning to boil, used for heating liquids to their boiling point in cooking and everyday contexts.
ehr-VEER
Necesitas hervir el agua antes de beberla.
You need to boil the water before drinking it.
Boil in Spanish: Quick Reference
Below are the most common Spanish words for boil, with pronunciation and regional usage notes.
| Spanish | English | Pronunciation | Region / Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| hervir | boil | ehr-VEER | Default, widely understood |
| forúnculo | boil | medical: a boil on the skin | |
| ebullición | boil | noun form: the act of boiling |
How Native Speakers Use Hervir
Real example sentences across three contexts you'll actually run into.
Cooking pasta
Hierve el agua con sal antes de echar la pasta.
Boil the water with salt before adding the pasta.
Giving cooking instructions in the kitchen.
Making tea
El agua ya está hirviendo; puedo preparar el té.
The water is already boiling; I can prepare the tea.
Narrating the process of making a hot beverage.
Purifying water
En la montaña siempre hervimos el agua del río.
In the mountains we always boil the river water.
Explaining a safety practice while camping.
Avoid These Mistakes When Using Hervir
Missing stem change
Incorrect: Yo hervo el agua todas las mañanas.
Correct: Yo hiervo el agua todas las mañanas.
Hervir is an e→ie stem-changing verb; in the first-person singular present it becomes hiervo, not hervo.
Confusing hervir with bullir
Incorrect: Voy a bullir los huevos.
Correct: Voy a hervir los huevos.
Bullir means to bubble or seethe and is rarely used in cooking; hervir is the correct verb for boiling food or water.
Lock in Boil Vocabulary with the Parrot Method
Why word lists alone don't stick
Memorizing a translation feels productive, but most learners forget 70% of what they studied within 48 hours. Vocabulary needs spaced repetition AND real-world exposure to transfer to long-term memory.
See Hervir used by native speakers
Parrot's short-form videos feature native speakers using hervir in real situations. Context-based exposure beats flashcards, you hear Necesitas hervir el agua antes de beberla. while watching someone live the moment, connecting meaning, sound, and rhythm at once.
Save, review, repeat, stay consistent
Tap any word to save it. Parrot's spaced-repetition system surfaces it right before you'd forget, no manual flashcard creation. The watch, parrot back, save, review cycle turns recognition into fluency at 2.7x the speed of traditional study.
Common Questions About Boil in Spanish
- How do you say 'boil' in Spanish?
- The verb to boil is hervir in Spanish, an irregular e→ie stem-changing verb used widely in cooking, water purification, and everyday conversation.
- What about a skin boil?
- A skin boil is called forúnculo in medical Spanish, while in casual speech people may say grano infectado (infected bump) or divieso in some Latin American regions.
- How do you conjugate hervir in the present tense?
- Hervir follows the e→ie pattern: yo hiervo, tú hierves, él/ella hierve, nosotros hervimos, ellos hierven.