Moler

Moler is a Spanish verb meaning to grind or crush substances into small particles. It is used to describe breaking down grains, coffee beans, spices, and other materials, whether by hand with a mortar and pestle or with a machine. In cooking and food preparation, phrases like moler los granos or moler café are common.

Etymology and related forms: Moler comes from Latin molere. It is a stem-changing -er verb in the present tense, with a form muelo in the first person singular and mueles/muele in the other single forms, while the nosotros form remains molemos. The verb’s past participle is molido, and the gerund is moliendo. Related terms include la molienda (milling or grinding process) and molido (ground, ground coffee, or grain as an adjective).

Conjugation notes: In the present indicative, the forms are yo muelo, tú mueles, él/ella/Ud. muela, nosotros molemos, vosotros moléis, ellos/ellas/Uds. muelen. The preterite (simple past) is molí, moliste, molió, molimos, molisteis, molieron. The imperfect is molía, molías, molía, molíamos, molíais, molían. The past participle is molido, and the gerund is moliendo. The imperative forms include ¡muele! (tú) and ¡molen! (ustedes).

Usage notes: Moler is widely used with foods—grinding coffee, cacao, cereals, pepper, or spices. It also appears in industrial contexts for materials processing. The term belowed by the noun molido or la molienda is often used to describe the resulting texture or product, such as café molido or harina molida.

See also: milling, grinding, coffee preparation, molienda, molido.