hervir Imperfect Conjugation
hervir — to boil
Hervir is completely regular in the imperfect: hervía, hervías, hervía, hervíamos, hervíais, hervían.
hervir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe the state of something boiling in the past or a repeated cooking habit.
Notes on hervir in the Imperfect
There are no stem changes in the imperfect for -ir verbs. It follows the standard -ía endings.
Example Sentences
La sopa hervía en la cocina mientras yo leía.
The soup was boiling on the stove while I was reading.
él/ella/usted
Antes siempre hervíamos el agua del grifo.
Before, we always used to boil the tap water.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: hiervía
Correct: hervía
Why: Learners often try to carry the present tense 'ie' stem change into the imperfect, but the imperfect is regular.
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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.
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.).
Affirmative Imperative
yo: hierve
Use 'hierve' for tú and 'hierva' for usted to give direct cooking instructions.
Negative Imperative
yo: no hiervas
All negative commands for hervir are identical to the present subjunctive forms preceded by 'no'.