Stem-changing verbs
Gramática II, Unidad 6
Present tense of stem-changing verbs
A few simple things to begin:
- How do when know if a verb stem changes? Easy. Our course site tells us. Otherwise, we'd have no way of knowing.
- How do we know what kind of stem change a verb has? Again, easy. The course site also gives us that information.
- Once you're told, though, it's your responsibility to remember which verbs have which kinds of stem changes.
The basics: conjugating e to ie stem changing verbs in the present tense.
Remember, with stem-changing verbs, what makes them special is that, instead of leaving the stem alone after we derive it (by removing the -AR, -ER or -IR infinitive ending), whenever the subject is NOT nosotros (or vosotros, but we won't use vosotros-forms in this course), we change the stem vowel in a certain way.
Once that change is made, then we add the right conjugated ending for the sentence's subject.
As always, when conjugating, we're only concerned with 2 things:
- stem
- ending
For regular stem-changing verbs, the only form that doesn't show a stem change is the nosotros-form:
infinitive: pensar
nosotros-form: pensamos
conjugated ending is "amos"
infinitive: querer
nosotros-form: queremos
conjugated ending is "emos"
infinitive: preferir
nosotros-form: preferimos
conjugated ending is "imos"
infinitive: empezar
nosotros-form: empezamos
conjugated ending is "amos"
infinitive: perder
nosotros-form: perdemos
conjugated ending is "emos"
infinitive: entender
nosotros-form: entendemos
conjugated ending is "emos"
In the other 4 present-tense forms, the stem "e" has to change to an "ie" before we can add a conjugated ending.
Once that change is made, then we add the right conjugated ending for the sentence's subject.
The 4 forms of new -AR verb "pensar" where the stem "e" changes to "ie" are:
tú form: piensas
changed stem is "piens"
conjugated ending is "as"
3rd-person singular: piensa
changed stem is "piens"
conjugated ending is "a"
3rd person plural: piensan
changed stem is "piens"
conjugated ending is "an"
yo form: pienso
changed stem is "piens"
conjugated ending is "o"
The 4 forms of new -ER verb "perder" where the stem "e" changes to "ie" are:
tú form: pierdes
changed stem is "pierd"
conjugated ending is "es"
3rd-person singular: pierde
changed stem is "pierd"
conjugated ending is "e"
3rd person plural: pierden
changed stem is "pierd"
conjugated ending is "en"
yo form: pierdo
changed stem is "pierd"
conjugated ending is "o"
There are 2 other types of stem changes in the language:
e to i and o to ue (which has a subtype, u to ue, which is very uncommon).
We'll look at the o to ue stem change now.
- As always, the nosotros-form shows no stem change. Let's take our new verb "poder".
- Its nosotros-form starts with the unchanged stem "pod"
- To this unchanged stem, we add the nosotros-form ending "emos" (because this is an -ER verb)
- That gives us the present-tense nosotros-form "podemos"
- Easy! It's just stem plus ending, like all present-tense conjugation.
The 4 forms of new -ER verb "poder" where the stem "o" changes to "ue" are:
tú form: puedes
changed stem is "pued"
conjugated ending is "es"
3rd-person singular: puede
changed stem is "pued"
conjugated ending is "e"
3rd person plural: pueden
changed stem is "pued"
conjugated ending is "en"
yo form: puedo
changed stem is "pued"
conjugated ending is "o"
Let's try a few conjugations with our new verbs (all can be found in the Resumen Gramatical in the Gramática II section of Unidad 6):
- Los chicos____________(soñar) [stem changes o to ue]
- Tú ___________(jugar) [stem changes u to ue]
- Yo ____________(entender) [stem changes e to ie]
- Mi hija ___________(servir) [stem changes e to i]
SOÑAR
- Los chicos ____________(soñar) [stem changes o to ue]
- step 1: derive the stem: soñ
- step 2: will the stem change? yes
- step 3: change the stem: sueñ
- step 4: add conjugated ending "an" for 3rd-person plural subject "los chicos"
- step 5: success! "sueñ" + "an"="sueñan", the correct form.
JUGAR
-
Tú ___________(jugar) [stem changes u to ue]
- step 1: derive the stem: jug
- step 2: will the stem change? yes
- step 3: change the stem: jueg
- step 4: add conjugated ending "as" for subject "tú"
- step 5: success! "jueg" + "as"="juegas", the correct form.
ENTENDER
-
Yo ____________(entender) [stem changes e to ie]
- step 1: derive the stem: entend
- step 2: will the stem change? yes
- step 3: change the stem: entiend
- step 4: add conjugated ending "o" for subject "yo"
- step 5: success! "entiend" + "o"="entiendo", the correct form.
SERVIR
-
Mi hija ___________(servir) [stem changes e to i]
- step 1: derive the stem: serv
- step 2: will the stem change? yes
- step 3: change the stem: sirv
- step 4: add conjugated ending "e" for 3rd-person-singular subject "mi hija"
- step 5: success! "sirv" + "e"="sirve", the correct form.
EXAM-FORMAT PRACTICE
For every blank in the exam, you will have to do two things:
- First, choose the correct verb for meaning.
- Second, conjugate the verb you choose in the present tense for its subject.
- La clase ____________(entender/empezar) a las dos de la tarde.
- Yo ____________(soñar/pensar) con volver a Chile.
- ¿Ustedes ___________(preferir/contar) estudiar en casa o en la biblioteca?
- Los estudiantes ____________(repetir/poder) las palabras nuevas.
- Pablo y yo ___________(querer/sonreír) viajar a Dinamarca.
Remember--for every blank in the exam, you must do two things:
- First, choose the correct verb for meaning.
- Second, conjugate the verb you choose in the present tense for its subject.
- La clase ________(entender/empezar) a las dos de la tarde.
- empezar
-
empieza
- Yo _______(soñar/pensar) con volver a Chile.
- soñar
-
sueño
- ¿Ustedes ________(preferir/contar) estudiar en casa o en la biblioteca?
- preferir
- prefieren
Remember--for every blank in the exam, you must do two things:
- First, choose the correct verb for meaning.
- Second, conjugate the verb you choose in the present tense for its subject.
- Los estudiantes ______(repetir/poder) las palabras nuevas.
- repetir
-
repiten
- Pablo y yo ________(querer/sonreír) viajar a Dinamarca.
- querer
- queremos
Stem-changing verbs
By kjjones
Stem-changing verbs
- 260
