fríen

Fríen is the third-person plural present indicative form of the Spanish verb freír, meaning to fry. It is used with subjects such as ellos, ellas, or ustedes to describe the action of frying in oil or fat. For example: “Ellos fríen papas” or “Las papas se fríen en aceite caliente.”

Freír is an irregular verb in several tenses, and its conjugation involves a stem change and accented forms. In the present tense, the full set is: yo frío, tú fríes, él fríe, nosotros freímos, vosotros freís, ellos fríen. The gerund is fríendo, and the past participle is frito. In the preterite (simple past), the forms include freí, freíste, frió, freímos, freísteis, frieron.

Etymology and usage notes: freír derives from Latin roots associated with heating food in oil; the exact lineage is debated, but the term is established in Romance languages as the standard verb for frying. In practical cooking language, fríen commonly appears in recipes or narratives describing ongoing frying, as in “los vegetales fríen en una sartén.” The infinitive freír and its related forms (frito, fríe, fríen) are widely used across Spanish-speaking regions, with minor regional preferences in pronunciation and spelling.

Related terms: freír contrasts with other cooking verbs, such as asar (to roast) or hervir (to boil). The noun frito, meaning a fried item or fried food, derives from the same root and is frequently used in culinary contexts.