hervir Affirmative Imperative Conjugation
hervir — to boil
Use 'hierve' for tú and 'hierva' for usted to give direct cooking instructions.
hervir Affirmative Imperative Forms
When to Use the Affirmative Imperative
Essential for recipes and kitchen commands.
Notes on hervir in the Affirmative Imperative
The tú form uses the present indicative third-person (hierve), while other forms use subjunctive stems.
Example Sentences
¡Hierve el agua ahora!
Boil the water now!
tú
Hierva la leche a fuego lento, por favor.
Boil the milk over low heat, please.
usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: herve
Correct: hierve
Why: The informal command (tú) requires the stem change e > ie.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: hiervo
Hervir is an e > ie stem-changer in the present (hiervo, hierves, hierve, hierven), except for nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: herví
Hervir has a 'slipper' stem change (e > i) only in the third-person forms: hirvió and hirvieron.
Imperfect
yo: hervía
Hervir is completely regular in the imperfect: hervía, hervías, hervía, hervíamos, hervíais, hervían.
Future
yo: herviré
Hervir is regular in the future; just add the endings to the infinitive: herviré, hervirás, etc.
Conditional
yo: herviría
The conditional uses the full infinitive 'hervir' plus the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, etc.
Present Subjunctive
yo: hierva
Hervir changes e > ie in most forms, but importantly shifts e > i in the nosotros and vosotros forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: hirviera
The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'hirvier-' stem for all forms (hirviera, hirvieras, etc.).
Negative Imperative
yo: no hiervas
All negative commands for hervir are identical to the present subjunctive forms preceded by 'no'.