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Bullir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to boil, bubble”.
Below are all of the conjugations for bullir in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to boil, bubble |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | bullir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está bulliendo) and past continuous (estaba bulliendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. boiling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he bullido and hubiera bullido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have boiled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | bulliendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | bullido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I boil” or “they boil”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | bullo |
| Tú | bulles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulle |
| Nosotros / as | bullimos |
| Vosotros / as | bullís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullen |
| Vos | bullís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I boiled” or “she boiled” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bullí | I boiled |
| Tú | bulliste | You boiled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bullió | He / she / you boiled |
| Nosotros / as | bullimos | We boiled |
| Vosotros / as | bullisteis | You boiled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullieron | They / you boiled |
| Vos | bulliste | You boiled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was boiling” or “she was boiling” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bullía | I was boiling |
| Tú | bullías | You were boiling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bullía | He was / she was / you were boiling |
| Nosotros / as | bullíamos | We were boiling |
| Vosotros / as | bullíais | You were boiling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullían | They / you were boiling |
| Vos | bullías | You were boiling |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have boiled” and “she has boiled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he bullido | I have boiled |
| Tú | has bullido | You have boiled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha bullido | He has / she has / you have boiled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos bullido | We have boiled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis bullido | You have boiled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han bullido | They / you have boiled |
| Vos | has bullido | You have boiled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would boil” or “she would boil”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bulliría | I would boil |
| Tú | bullirías | You would boil |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulliría | He / she / you would boil |
| Nosotros / as | bulliríamos | We would boil |
| Vosotros / as | bulliríais | You would boil |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullirían | They / you would boil |
| Vos | bullirías | You would boil |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will boil” or “they will boil”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a bullir” means “They are going to boil”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bulliré | I will boil |
| Tú | bullirás | You will boil |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bullirá | He / she / you will boil |
| Nosotros / as | bulliremos | We will boil |
| Vosotros / as | bulliréis | You will boil |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullirán | They / you will boil |
| Vos | bullirás | You will boil |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | bulla |
| Tú | bullas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulla |
| Nosotros / as | bullamos |
| Vosotros / as | bulláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullan |
| Vos | bullas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bulliera | bulliese |
| Tú | bullieras | bulliese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulliera | bulliese |
| Nosotros / as | bulliéramos | bulliésemos |
| Vosotros / as | bullierais | bullieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullieran | bulliesen |
| Vos | bullieras | bulliese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | bulliere |
| Tú | bullieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulliera |
| Nosotros / as | bulliéremos |
| Vosotros / as | bulliereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullieren |
| Vos | bullieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “boil!” and “don’t boil!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | bulle | no bullas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bulla | no bulla |
| Nosotros / as | bullamos | no bullamos |
| Vosotros / as | bullid | no bulláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bullan | no bullan |
| Vos | bullí | no bullas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya bullido |
| Tú | hayas bullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya bullido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos bullido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis bullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan bullido |
| Vos | hayas bullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera bullido / hubiese bullido |
| Tú | hubieras bullido / hubieses bullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera bullido / hubiese bullido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos bullido / hubiésemos bullido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais bullido / hubieseis bullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran bullido / hubiesen bullido |
| Vos | hubieras bullido / hubieses bullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere bullido |
| Tú | hubieres bullido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere bullido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos bullido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis bullido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren bullido |
| Vos | hubieres bullido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté bulliendo |
| Tú | estés bulliendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté bulliendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos bulliendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis bulliendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén bulliendo |
| Vos | estés bulliendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera bulliendo / estuviese bulliendo |
| Tú | estuvieras bulliendo / estuvieses bulliendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera bulliendo / estuviese bulliendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos bulliendo / estuviésamos bulliendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais bulliendo / estuvieseis bulliendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera bulliendo / estuviese bulliendo |
| Vos | estuvieras bulliendo / estuvieses bulliendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere bulliendo |
| Tú | estuvieres bulliendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere bulliendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos bulliendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis bulliendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere bulliendo |
| Vos | estuvieres bulliendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos bullís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos bulliste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos bullías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos bullirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos bullirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos bullas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos bullieras / Vos bulliese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos bullí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no bullas |