Llorar means 'to cry', and it is a regular -ar verb that adds emotional colour to narrative and description. El bebé llora (the baby is crying), lloré durante la película (I cried during the film). It appears in the expressive idiom romper a llorar ('to burst into tears'). Because describing emotions and reactions enriches storytelling and personal writing, llorar is a useful verb to have. As a regular -ar verb the forms are predictable, and it pairs naturally with reír ('to laugh') when describing strong feelings.
Quick facts
Llorar (to cry) is a regular -ar verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
El bebé llora (the baby is crying).
Lloré durante la película (I cried during the film).
Romper a llorar (to burst into tears).
Pairs with reír (to laugh).
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
llorar 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 llorar, 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 llorar now →Three questions, no account needed. Type the form, then press Enter or tap Check.
yo: lloro, tú: lloras, él: llora, nosotros: lloramos, vosotros: lloráis, ellos: lloran
The past participle is llorado (he llorado) and the gerund is llorando (estoy llorando).
Verbs that are easy to confuse with llorar or that behave like it.
Llorar is on the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas GCSE Spanish vocabulary lists. Compare the exam boards.
Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.