 Stem is the very first part of the verb, the underlined part: › Hablar › Comer › Escribir

 Prefer ir  Quer er  Pens ar  Empez ar  Comenz ar  Perd er  To prefer  To want  To think  To begin (start)  To lose

 First, let’s just add all the correct endings. If a verb ends in –AR, you add : oo  as aa  amos  áis  an

If a verb ends in – er, you add: oo  es ee  emos  éis  en If a verb ends in – ir, you add: oo  es ee  imos  ís  en

Ejemplo“quer er ” ends en “er” (querer), which endings will we add? The –ER endings!!!! 0 ES E EMOS EIS EN

quer queréis Querquer oemos e es en

 Now, let’s add our stem change.  Remember, E can change to IE only within the boot. This means that NOSOTROS/AS AND VOSOTROS/AS form never changes!

QuieroQueremos QuieresQueréis QuiereQuieren

Remember, only the e in the stem can change.  quer er  perd er If there are two e’s in the stem, the second one always changes.  prefer ir  empez ar

When used with a thing as the direct object, querer means to want. When used with a person as the direct object, querer means to love.

quiero quieres quiere queremos queréis quieren escribir viajar bailar leer comer aprender dormir estudiar

pienso piensas piensa pensamos pensáis piensan Pensar (To think) The verb pensar is another very useful stem- changing verb.

¿En qué piensas? (What are you thinking about?) Pensar de means “to think of” (to have an opinion about.) ¿Qué piensas de las novelas de Márquez? (What do you think of Márquez’s novels?) Pensar que means “to think that” (in answer to the above question, for example.) Yo pienso que sus novelas son maravillosas. (I think that his novels are wonderful.)

The verbs tener and venir are what might be called partial stem-changing verbs; the yo forms do not have the stem change, but they do have an irregularity. tengo tienes tiene tenemos tenéis tienen vengo vienes viene venimos venís vienen

 Pod er  Jug ar  Dorm ir  Soñ ar  Volv er  Devolv er  to be able to (can)  to play  to sleep  to dream  to return (to a place)  to return (a thing)

 P o der  Jugar  D o rmir  S o ñar  V o lver  Dev o lver

 For jugar: › o › as › a › amos › an  For poder: › o › es › e › emos › en

JuegoJugamos JuegasJugáis JuegaJuegan

PuedoPodemos PuedesPodéis PuedePueden