Spanish Cooking Verbs: Say 'I Chop the Onions' and More
Learn common Spanish cooking verbs like picar, hervir, freír, hornear and mezclar, and practice saying what you do in the kitchen with simple present-tense sentences.
By MarcusFood & cafés · Yapr Learn
In this lesson you will learn Spanish verbs for common cooking actions: chopping, boiling, frying, baking and mixing. The focus is on the action, not on naming ingredients, so you can say what you do in the kitchen. You will practice the pattern 'yo + verb + object', for example 'Yo pico la cebolla' (I chop the onion). All examples use broadly useful Latin American Spanish, with notes on regional differences where they matter.
By the end, you can…
- name five common cooking actions in Spanish.
- say simple sentences like 'I chop the onions' using the present tense.
- ask and answer what someone is cooking or preparing.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
Yo pico la cebolla.
I chop the onion.
yoh PEE-koh lah seh-BOH-yah
Use picar for chopping vegetables or fruit into small pieces. In much of Latin America, the ll in cebolla sounds like 'y'; in Argentina and Uruguay it often sounds like 'sh'.
Yo hiervo el agua.
I boil the water.
yoh YER-voh el AH-gwah
Hervir is 'to boil'. The yo form is irregular: hiervo. Use it for boiling water, pasta or vegetables.
Yo frío las papas.
I fry the potatoes.
yoh FREE-oh lahs PAH-pahs
Freír means 'to fry'. The yo form is frío. In Spain you would usually say patatas instead of papas.
Yo horneo el pan.
I bake the bread.
yoh or-NEH-oh el pahn
Hornear means 'to bake' in an oven. It is regular in the yo form.
Yo mezclo los ingredientes.
I mix the ingredients.
yoh MEHS-kloh lohs een-greh-DYEN-tehs
Mezclar means 'to mix'. Use it for combining ingredients in a bowl.
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
The basic pattern is yo + cooking verb + object. For example: Yo pico la cebolla. Yo hiervo el agua. Yo frío las papas. Yo horneo el pan. Yo mezclo los ingredientes. You can also drop yo because the verb ending already shows who does the action: Pico la cebolla. Hiervo el agua. This is common and natural in everyday speech.
When to use it
Use these verbs to describe what you are doing right now or what you usually do. The simple present can mean both: Pico la cebolla can mean 'I chop the onion' or 'I am chopping the onion'. If you want to be very clear about right now, you can say Estoy picando la cebolla. Use the simple present for routines and instructions, and the estar + -ando/-iendo form for actions happening at this moment.
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
¿Qué haces en la cocina?
What are you doing in the kitchen?keh AH-sehs en lah koh-SEE-nahPico la cebolla y mezclo los ingredientes.
I chop the onion and mix the ingredients.PEE-koh lah seh-BOH-yah ee MEHS-kloh lohs een-greh-DYEN-tehs¿Y después?
And afterward?ee dehs-PWEHSDespués frío las papas y horneo el pan.
Afterward I fry the potatoes and bake the bread.dehs-PWEHS FREE-oh lahs PAH-pahs ee or-NEH-oh el pahnA little context goes a long way
In Latin America, papas is the usual word for potatoes, while Spain uses patatas. The verb freír is common everywhere, but the yo form frío has an accent. In casual speech, many speakers drop yo and just say Pico la cebolla. In a recipe, you will often see the infinitive or an impersonal form, such as Picar la cebolla or Se pica la cebolla, rather than the yo form.
One thing to watch for
Using hacer for every cooking action, as in Hago la cebolla to mean 'I chop the onion'.
Try this instead: Hacer means 'to do' or 'to make', not 'to chop'. Use the specific verb: Yo pico la cebolla. For 'I make dinner', you can say Yo hago la cena, but for chopping, frying, boiling, baking or mixing, use picar, freír, hervir, hornear or mezclar.
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'I boil the water' in Spanish?
Show a sample answer
Yo hiervo el agua.
Hervir is the verb 'to boil', and its yo form is irregular: hiervo. You can also drop yo and say Hiervo el agua.
2What is the Spanish verb for 'to fry'?
Show a sample answer
Freír.
Freír means 'to fry'. The yo form is frío, as in Yo frío las papas. In Spain, you would say patatas instead of papas.
3Translate: 'I mix the ingredients.'
Show a sample answer
Yo mezclo los ingredientes.
Mezclar means 'to mix', and mezclo is the yo form. You can also say Mezclo los ingredientes without yo.
Learn the action verbs picar, hervir, freír, hornear and mezclar, then use yo + verb + object to say what you do in the kitchen. Drop yo when the context is clear.
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