arder

The everyday verb for burning or being on fire — a house, a forest, a candle — and, just as commonly, for a stinging or burning physical sensation (me arden los ojos) or intense emotion (arder de rabia, arder en deseos).

• El bosque ardió durante toda la noche. — The forest burned all night long.
• Me arden los ojos por el humo. — My eyes are stinging from the smoke.
• Ardía en deseos de contarle la noticia. — She was burning with desire to tell him the news.

Confusing arder (intransitive, to be on fire / to burn on its own) with quemar (transitive, to burn something) — "the house is burning" is la casa arde, not *la casa quema, which would mean the house itself is burning something else.

Often confused with quemar.

• song Arde — 2018 single by Spanish pop singer Aitana, built around the repeated refrain "Arde, arde, que arda bien" ("Burn, burn, let it burn well"), using fire as a metaphor for emotional transformation after heartbreak.