How to Say Clean in Spanish

Last Updated: March 29, 2019 References

In English, the word "clean" has many different meanings and is used in a number of different contexts. Spanish has several different words that all are used to mean "clean." Which word you use depends on what you're talking about.^{[1]
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Research source} In addition to a number of adjectives, there also are two verbs you use to say "clean" in Spanish. If you're talking about washing, especially the body, you use the verb lavar (lah-VAHR). The verb limpiar (leem-PEE-arr), on the other hand, describes other acts of cleaning.^{[2]
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Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Conjugating the Verb Limpiar

1
Learn the infinitive form. The verb in Spanish that means "to clean" is limpiar. It is a regular verb, conjugated the same as all other -ar verbs in Spanish. Use the infinitive if you have two verbs, or a verb phrase.^{[3]
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- For example, if you wanted to say "we have to clean the house" in Spanish, you would say "tenemos que limpiar la casa."
- To conjugate regular -ar verbs, simply remove the -ar ending from the verb stem and replace it with a different ending appropriate to the subject of your sentence and verb tense you want to use. For example, to create the first-person present-tense form of the verb limpiar, you would remove the -ar to create the verb stem limpi-, then add an -o to arrive at limpio – "I clean."
2
Say limpiar in the present tense. Present tense may be the one you use the most in Spanish. Unlike English, in Spanish the same verb form is also used for progressive actions. "Clean" in the present tense also means "am/is/are cleaning."^{[4]
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- If you want to say "I am cleaning my house," you would say "yo limpio mi casa" (or simply "limpio mi casa" – the pronoun isn't necessary.)
- To say "you are cleaning my house," you would say "limpias mi casa" (familiar) or "limpia mi casa" (formal). The "formal you" form is also used to say "he or she is cleaning my house."
- To say "we are cleaning my house," you would say "limpiamos mi casa." To say "they are cleaning my house" or "you all are cleaning my house," you would say "limpian mi casa."
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3
Use limpiar in the past tense. In Spanish, the past (or "preterite") tense of limpiar is used to mean you cleaned something, just as in English. The past tense should not be used to refer to actions that are ongoing, but rather things that took place completely in the past.^{[5]
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- To say "I cleaned my house," you would say "limpié mi casa." To say "you cleaned my house," you would say "limpiaste mi casa" (familiar) or "limpió mi casa" (formal). The formal you form is also used to say "he or she cleaned my house."
- To say "we cleaned my house," you would say "limpiamos mi casa." To say "they cleaned my house" or "you all cleaned my house," you would say "limpiaron mi casa."
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Understand how to say limpiar in the future tense. In Spanish, the future tense of the verb "limpiar" simply means "will clean." However, there is no helper verb in Spanish as there is in English.^{[6]
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- To say "I will clean my house," you would say "limpiaré mi casa." To say "you will clean my house, you would say "limpiarás mi casa" (familiar) or "limpiará mi casa" (formal). The same form used for the formal "you" pronoun is also used to say "he or she will clean my house."
- To say "we will clean my house," you would say "limpiaremos mi casa." To say "they will clean my house" or "you all will clean my house," you would say "limpiarán mi casa."
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Use the transitive verb form. If you want to speak in Spanish about cleaning up or tidying up a place, you use the transitive verb form, which is the same as the infinitive limpiar. This word is used to talk about cleaning up something messy, or to clean up a neighborhood or area by getting rid of corruption.^{[7]
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- In English, you also might say someone "cleaned up" to mean that they won something, or made a huge profit. However, in Spanish the phrase for this is "barrer con todo." For example, you would say "Juan barrió con todo en el concurso" ("John cleaned up in the contest.")

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Conjugating the Verb Lavar

1
Understand the infinitive form of lavar. The verb lavar can be more directly translated to the English verb "to wash," but it is frequently used in many contexts where the verb "to clean" would be interchangeable in English.^{[8]
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- Lavar is a regular -ar verb, conjugated by removing the -ar ending from the verb stem and replacing it with the appropriate ending depending on the subject of the sentence and the verb tense you want to use.
2
Use lavar in the present tense. The literal English translation of the Spanish verb lavar in present tense is used to mean both "wash" and "am/is/are washing." There is no helper verb to distinguish progressive action, but your reader or listener will understand your meaning from the context of your sentence.^{[9]
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- To say "I wash the car," you would say "lavo el auto." (In Spain, use the word "coche" for "car.") To say "you wash the car," you would say "lavas el auto" (familiar) or "lava el auto" (formal). You also would say "lava el auto" to say "he or she washed the car."
- To say "we wash the car," you would say "lavamos el auto." To say "they wash the car" or "you all wash the car," you would say "lavan el auto."
3
Say lavar in the past tense. Using the past tense of lavar means you washed something. For the past tense to be correct, the action must have started and ended completely at some point in the past.^{[10]
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- To say "I washed the car," you would say "lavé el auto." To say "you wash the car," you would say "lavaste el auto" (familiar) or "lavó el auto" (formal). "Lavó el auto" is also used to say "he or she washed the car." Your reader or listener will understand which you mean by the context and the rest of your sentence.
- To say "we washed the car," you would say "lavamos el auto." To say "they washed the car" or "you all washed the car," you would say "lavaron el auto."
4
Understand how to conjugate lavar in the future tense. Similarly to English, the future tense conjugation of the verb lavar in Spanish means "will wash." Unlike English, the Spanish language doesn't use a helper verb with the future tense.^{[11]
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- To say "I will wash the car," you would say "lavaré el auto." To say "you will wash the car" you would say "lavarás el auto" (familiar) or "lavará el auto" (formal). "Lavará el auto" also is used to say "he or she will wash the car."
- To say "we will wash the car," you would say "lavaremos el auto." To say "they will wash the car" or "you all will wash the car," you would say "lavarán el auto."
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Learn the reflexive verb lavarse. If you want to say that you are washing yourself, the verb is conjugated somewhat differently than if you are washing some other object. You also must include a pronoun to match the subject.^{[12]
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- The reflexive pronouns in Spanish are me (myself), te (yourself), se (himself, herself, yourself), nos (ourselves), os (yourselves), and se (themselves, yourselves).
- To say "I wash myself," you would say "yo me lavo." To say "you wash yourself," you would say "tú te lavas" (familiar) or "usted se lava" (formal). To say "he/she washes him/herself," you would also say "él/ella se lava."
- To say "we wash ourselves," you would say "nosotros/as nos lavamos." To say "they wash themselves" or "you all wash themselves," you would say "ellos/as se lavan."

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Learning Adjectives and Adverbs

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Use limpio if you mean that something is not dirty. The basic adjective for "clean" in Spanish is limpio. If the noun the adjective describes is feminine, you would use limpia. If the adjective describes a plural noun, add an s.^{[13]
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- For example, if you've just washed the dishes, you might say "los platos estan limpios," which means "the dishes are clean."
- Limpio also is used in Spanish if you're describing someone who was a formerly addicted to drugs or alcohol but went to rehab and is now "clean," meaning they no longer do drugs or drink alcohol. For example, you might say "Tras un mes desintoxicándose, estaba limpio," or "After a month in rehab, he was clean."
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Say puro if you mean that something is pure. Sometimes in English you might use the word "clean" to mean pure, such as when you're talking about air or water. In Spanish, the word "limpio" is also used in this sense, but more often the word "puro" is used.^{[14]
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- Change the word to "pura" if you're using the word to describe a feminine noun, and add an s if the noun is plural.
- For example, if you wanted to say "the water is clean," you might say "es agua pura." You also might say "el agua está limpia."
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Understand that limpio is also the adverb form of the word. Similarly to English, "clean" is sometimes used in Spanish to describe how someone acted or how someone behaves. This is like saying "fairly" in English.^{[15]
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- For example, you might say "este equipo siempre juega limpio," which means "this team always plays clean," to talk about a team that always plays fairly or never cheats.