Stem-changing verbs

Live Session 1--NFC Spanish 2

Present tense of stem-changing verbs

 

A few simple things to begin:

  • How do when know if a verb stem changes? Easy. Our course materials tell us. Otherwise, we'd have no way of knowing.
     
  • How do we know what kind of stem change a verb has? Again, easy. Our textbook and Supersite also give 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: preferir

nosotros-form: preferimos

(conjugated ending is "imos")

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 the -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"

There are 2 other types of stem changes in the language:
e to i and o to ue.

We'll have a quick look at the o to ue stem change now.

  • As always, the nosotros-form shows no stem change.
     
  • Example: the 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 -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"

Practice Break:

  • We'll focus on sections 5 and 6 of the Lección 4 Prueba de Práctica in Supersite, which was not assigned last semester.

More conjugations with our stem-changing verbs from Spanish 1 (they were presented back in Lección 4 grammar):
 

  • Los chicos____________(volver) [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]
     
  • Nosotros __________(perder) [stem changes e to ie]

 

VOLVER

  • Los chicos ____________(volver) [stem changes o to ue]
     
  • step 1: derive the stem: volv
     
  • step 2: will the stem change? yes
     
  • step 3: change the stem: vuelv
     
  • step 4: add conjugated ending "en" for 3rd-person plural subject "los chicos"
     
  • step 5: success! "vuelv" + "en"="vuelven", 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.

 

PERDER

  • Nosotros ____________(perder) [stem changes e to ie]

     
  • step 1: derive the stem: perd
     
  • step 2: will the stem change? NO
     
  • step 3: keep the stem as it is: perd
     
  • step 4: add conjugated ending "emos" for subject "nosotros"
     
  • step 5: success! "perd" + "emos"="perdemos", the correct form.