Change into Stem

A while ago, I covered regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in the present tense. Today, I would like to cover what we call, irregular verbs -- specifically the "stem-changing" verbs in Spanish. Please refer back to my post on regular verbs in the present tense before continuing on with this post. It will be a good refresher for you. You can find that post here.

There are three types of stem changing verbs in Spanish:

• E to IE
• E to I
• O to UE 

The term, stem-changing, comes from the flower analogy. The entire infinitive form of the verb (for example: hablar) is considered the root. All plants must have roots in which they grow and establish a beautiful flower. The stem on the flower supports the plant above ground. The stem of a verb does the same thing for the verb which usually does not change: habl- in the case of hablar. Consider the –ar part of the verb to be the buds or the actual flowers each very distinct from one another and yet all part of the same plant. Each of the various forms is different from another which are all part of the same verb.

Now in stem-changing verbs, the stem of the verb has a change that takes place when you conjugate it to the various forms. For all stem-changing verbs, the following forms will change: Yo (I), Tú (You (familiar)), Vd. (El, Ella) (You (He, She)), Vds. (they, you all). The two forms that do not change the stem are the Nosotros (We) and Vosotros (You all (familiar)). Below I will take you through the various stem-changing verbs with examples. The examples have the location of the change (or no change) in bold and underlined. Remember that each vowel is pronounced!

1.       Here’s an example for E to IE verbs:

-ar	-er	-ir
Pensar (to think)	Querer (to want, love)	Mentir (to lie)
Pienso Piensas Piensa	Quiero Quieres Quiere	Miento Mientes Miente
Pensamos Pensáis	Queremos Queréis	Mentimos Mentís
Piensan	Quieren	Mienten

Other verbs that work like this are: cerrar, comensar, empezar, negar, perder, defender, encender, entender, sentir, preferir. (In the previous list, I put the letter that changes in bold if there is more than one E in the stem part of the verb.)

2.       Moving on, you will see an example of an E to I changing verb:

-ir

Pedir (to ask for)

Pido Pides Pide

Pedimos Pedís

Piden

Other verbs that change like this are: conseguir, impedir, seguir, elegir, repetir, servir. If you noticed, these are all –ir type verbs. (In the previous list, I put the letter that changes in bold if there is more than one E in the stem part of the verb.)

3.       Finally, here are the O to UE changing verbs:

-ar	-er	-ir
Costar (to cost)	Poder (to be able)	Dormer (to sleep)
Cuesto Cuestas Cuesta	Puedo Puedes Puede	Duermo Duermes Duerme
Costamos Costáis	Podemos Podéis	Dormimos Dormís
Cuestan	Pueden	Duermen

Other verbs that function like this are: contar, encontrar, mostrar, probar, recorder, volver, devolver, llover, mover, morir.

Finally, there are a couple other verbs that have slight changes to their stem:

-er	-ar
Oler (to smell)	Jugar (to play (as in a game))
Huelo Hueles Huele	Juego Juegas Juega
Olemos Oléis	Jugamos Jugáis
Huelen	Juegan

There is usually not a trick to keep these verbs sorted out in your head except for simple memorization and practice. Drill yourself often. Practice using them with friends, family, and pets. Try using flashcards. There are various flashcard apps for smartphones and tablets you can purchase or download for free to help you create your own.

Happy learning!

¡Hasta luego!

~Keith