Llenar means 'to fill', and it is a regular -ar verb useful in practical and descriptive contexts. Llené el vaso de agua (I filled the glass with water) — note llenar de for filling with something. The reflexive llenarse means to fill up or get full: el cine se llenó (the cinema filled up). It is the natural opposite of vaciar ('to empty'). The related adjective lleno ('full') is essential everyday vocabulary. As a regular -ar verb the conjugation is predictable, and the pattern llenar de is the detail to remember.
Quick facts
Llenar (to fill) is a regular -ar verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
Llené el vaso de agua (I filled the glass with water).
Llenar de + thing it's filled with.
Reflexive llenarse: se llenó.
Vaciar (to empty) is the opposite.
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Llenar is a regular verb. Make sure you know the endings for each tense — especially the preterite and subjunctive, which is where marks are most often lost.
llenar is a regular -ar verb — it follows the standard -ar pattern in every tense. That makes it a good one to drill: if you know llenar, you know the template for all regular -ar verbs.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice llenar now →Three questions. Press Enter to check each answer.
yo: lleno, tú: llenas, él: llena, nosotros: llenamos, vosotros: llenáis, ellos: llenan
Llenar is a regular -ar verb following the standard -ar pattern.
Use llenar in multiple tenses to show range — present, preterite and future at minimum. This is a key criterion for higher GCSE marks.
Verbs that are easy to confuse with llenar or that behave like it.
This reference is written for UK GCSE and A-Level Spanish learners and their teachers. It is designed for exam revision: every form is checked against standard conjugation rules, and the examples reflect the registers and topics that come up in the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas specifications. Llenar is a high-frequency verb and appears often in exam papers. For active recall, use the free practice tool rather than only reading the tables.
Last updated 2 August 2026. Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.