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Conjugation Chart

“Hervir” (to boil) in the Imperfect Tense

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Understanding the Imperfect Tense of “Hervir”

The Imperfect Tense of hervir is used to describe an ongoing or repeated action in the past, for example, El agua hervía en la olla. (The water was boiling in the pot.)

Hervir is a regular -ir verb, so its conjugations in the Imperfect Tense follow the regular pattern for this verb type.

How to Use Hervir in the Imperfect Tense

The imperfect tense of hervir is used to describe an ongoing or repeated action in the past.

Describing an ongoing action in the past: For example, El agua hervía en la olla. (The water was boiling in the pot.)

Describing a repeated or habitual action in the past: For example, Cuando era niño, mi abuela siempre hervía agua para el té. (When I was a child, my grandmother always used to boil water for tea.)

Expressing a state or condition in the past: For example, El ambiente hervía de emoción antes del concierto. (The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement before the concert.)

Idiomatic usage: For example, Hervía de rabia después de la discusión. (He/She was boiling with rage after the argument.) This idiom means to be extremely angry or furious.

Real Life Examples of Hervir in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, el agua hervía en la estufa de leña. (When I was a child, the water used to boil on the wood stove.)

Mi abuela hervía las hierbas para preparar té medicinal. (My grandmother would boil herbs to make medicinal tea.)

La olla hervía a fuego lento mientras cocinábamos el guiso. (The pot was simmering over low heat as we cooked the stew.)

Vosotros hervíais el agua para esterilizar los biberones del bebé. (You (plural) used to boil the water to sterilize the baby’s bottles.)

Ellos hervían los frijoles para ablandarlos antes de la cena. (They would boil the beans to soften them before dinner.)

Tú hervías la leche por las mañanas para hacer café con leche. (You used to boil the milk in the mornings to make coffee with milk.)

Nosotros hervíamos el agua para preparar pasta cuando vivíamos juntos. (We used to boil the water to make pasta when we lived together.)

Ustedes hervían el arroz antes de freírlo para hacer un delicioso arroz frito. (You all used to boil the rice before frying it to make delicious fried rice.)

Yo hervía huevos para el desayuno todos los domingos. (I used to boil eggs for breakfast every Sunday.)

Ella hervía las verduras para hacer un caldo nutritivo. (She would boil the vegetables to make a nutritious broth.)

¿Hervías el agua antes de beberla cuando viajabas? (Did you use to boil the water before drinking it when you traveled?)

En la cocina, hervíamos grandes ollas de agua para escalfar los tomates. (In the kitchen, we used to boil large pots of water to blanch the tomatoes.)

Vosotros hervíais la leche con canela para hacer un rico atole. (You (plural) used to boil the milk with cinnamon to make a delicious atole.)

Cuando hervía el agua, el silbato de la tetera anunciaba que estaba lista. (When the water boiled, the whistle of the kettle announced that it was ready.)

Ellas hervían las especias en vino para crear un delicioso mulled wine. (They used to boil the spices in wine to create a delicious mulled wine.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Hervir (to boil) in the Imperfect Tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Imperfect tense is also known as the Past Imperfect, Descriptive Past, Past Progressive, or Imperfect Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Imperfecto, Copretérito, Imperfecto de Indicativo, or Pasado Descriptivo in Spanish.