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    Spanish Stem Changing Verbs Present Tense

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    lauracorra
    The document discusses stem-changing verbs in Spanish. It explains that the stem of a verb is the root that does not change during conjugation. Some verbs have stem changes in the yo, tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas forms, with three main patterns: e to ie, o to ue, and u to ue. It provides examples of verbs that follow each pattern, including cerrar, jugar, and recordar. It also notes that stem-changing verbs are predictable and only the stem, not the ending, changes in most forms.

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    Spanish Stem Changing Verbs Present Tense

    Uploaded by

    lauracorra
    327 views3 pages
    The document discusses stem-changing verbs in Spanish. It explains that the stem of a verb is the root that does not change during conjugation. Some verbs have stem changes in the yo, tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas forms, with three main patterns: e to ie, o to ue, and u to ue. It provides examples of verbs that follow each pattern, including cerrar, jugar, and recordar. It also notes that stem-changing verbs are predictable and only the stem, not the ending, changes in most forms.

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    The document discusses stem-changing verbs in Spanish. It explains that the stem of a verb is the root that does not change during conjugation. Some verbs have stem changes in the yo, tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas forms, with three main patterns: e to ie, o to ue, and u to ue. It provides examples of verbs that follow each pattern, including cerrar, jugar, and recordar. It also notes that stem-changing verbs are predictable and only the stem, not the ending, changes in most forms.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    327 views3 pages

    Spanish Stem Changing Verbs Present Tense

    Uploaded by

    lauracorra
    The document discusses stem-changing verbs in Spanish. It explains that the stem of a verb is the root that does not change during conjugation. Some verbs have stem changes in the yo, tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas forms, with three main patterns: e to ie, o to ue, and u to ue. It provides examples of verbs that follow each pattern, including cerrar, jugar, and recordar. It also notes that stem-changing verbs are predictable and only the stem, not the ending, changes in most forms.

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Stem-Changing Verbs in the Present Tense

    Spanish grammar is wonderfully logical; even the occasional exception to the rules
    follows a general pattern. Case in point: stem-changing (also known as radical-
    changing) verbs.

    In order to understand this concept, it is first necessary to define “stem.” The stem of
    the verb is the root, the part that, unlike the ending, does not change when the verb is
    conjugated. It is the part of the infinitive that stays when the –ar, -er or –ir ending is
    changed. In the verb hablar (to speak/talk), habl- is the stem:

    yo hablo (I speak) nostros hablamos (we speak)


    tú hablas (you speak)
    él habla (he speaks) ellos hablan (they speak)

    Hablar is a regular –ar verb, and so the stem does not change. Watch what happens
    to the stem-changing –ar verb jugar (to play (a game, a sport)):

    yo juego (I play) nosotros jugamos (we play)


    tú juegas (you play)
    él juega (he plays) ellos juegan (they play)
    Here’s another stem-changing –ar verb, cerrar (to close):

    yo cierro (I close) nosotros cerramos (we close)


    tú cierras (you close)
    él cierra (he closes) ellos cierran (they close)

    In the case of jugar, the u in the stem became ue in four of the conjugations (the yo,
    tú, él and ellos forms). In the case of cerrar, the e became ie in the same four
    conjugations. The third type of stem change is o to ue. I’ll bet you can predict what
    happens to the stem-changing verb recordar (to remember/recall, or record):

    yo recuerdo (I remember) nosotros recordamos (we remember)


    tú recuerdas (you remember)
    él recuerda (he remembers) ellos recuerdan (they remember)
    The tricky part about stem-changing verbs is that there are two parts of the verb to
    conjugate: the ending and the middle, or stem. Fortunately, most stem-changing
    verbs are quite predictable; the –ar, -er and –ir endings remain the same as in any
    regular verb, and only the stem changes in all but the nosotros and vosotros forms.
    (In Latin America, vosotros is not widely used, but you’ll still run into it in written
    language, including the Bible.) There are, as we have seen, three main stem changes.
    Here are some verbs that follow the patterns we’ve seen so far:
    e to ie stem change
    cerrar to close
    comenzar to start, begin
    despertar to awaken
    defender to defend
    entender to understand
    empezar to start, begin
    mentir to lie
    negar to deny
    pensar to think
    perder to lose
    preferir to prefer
    querer to want
    **tener to have
    **venir to come

    **These two have irregular yo forms: yo tengo, yo vengo. The other forms follow the
    rules for the regular e to ie stem change.

    o to ue stem change
    acordar to remember
    almorzar to have lunch
    contar to count, to tell
    costar to cost
    devolver to return, give back
    dormir to sleep
    encontrar to meet, find
    envolver to wrap, envelop
    morir to die
    mostrar to show
    mover to move
    poder to be able (to do something)
    probar to prove, to try
    recordar to remember
    volver to return, come back
    Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb..

    1. Yo ______________ hambre. ¿Tú ______________comer? (tener) (querer)

    2. Sí. ¿Qué restaurante _____________________ tú? (preferir)

    3. Mi hermano ___________________en Pollo Loco muchas veces. (almorzar)

    4. Ah, sí, yo ____________________ que le gusta mucho. (recordar)

    5. El libro no _______________ mucho. (costar)

    6. ¿ __________________ (tú) un libro? (devolver)

    7. Sí, nosotros __________________________ a estudiar. (empezar)

    Now translate the sentences into English...

    1. I am hungry. Do you want to eat?

    2.

    3.

    4.

    5.

    6.

    7.

    Answers:
    1) tengo, quieres. I’m hungry. Do you want to eat?
    2) prefieres. Yes. What restaurant do you prefer?
    3) almuerza. My brother often has lunch at Pollo Loco.
    4) recuerdo. Oh yes, I remember that he likes it there. Okay.
    5) cuesta. It’s good, and the food doesn’t cost much. But first let’s go to the
    library.
    6) Devuelves. Are you returning a book?
    7) empezamos. Yes, right now. Then we can start to eat.

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