Remember Stem Changers in the Present Indicative?
What is the stem of a verb? All verbs in Spanish end with either –ar, -er –ir When a verb has the –ar, -er, -ir still on the end, that entire verb is said to be in its INFINITIVE form Ex:hablar comer vivir
If you were to drop the –ar, -er, -ir ending on the verb, what you are left with is called the STEM of the verb Ex: habl com viv ar er ir
Some verbs have a change in the stem normally: querer quer pedir ped jugar jug volar vol With stem change: e > ie quererquier e > I pedirpid u > ue jugarjueg o > ue volarvuel
Not so fast………. There is a catch Not all the forms get the stem change Present tense stem changers are often called “boot” verbs
Why? Because only the forms inside the boot get the stem change yo tú Él Ella usted nosotros vosotros Ellos Ellas ustedes quiero quieres quiere queremos queréis quieren
examples Yo quiero $100. Nosotros queremos $100 Tú siempre pides papas fritas Nosotros nunca pedimos verduras Ella juega al baloncesto. Nosotros no jugamos ajedrez
Well, we also have stem changers in the preterite Almost the same rules apply There is a change in the stem & the endings are the same as regular verbs. But we don’t call them “boot verbs”
Instead, we have “Thong Verbs”! If it fits in the thong, it gets a stem change We know a lot doesn’t fit in a thong, unlike a boot Yo Tú Él Ella Usted Nosotros Vosotros Ellos Ellas Ustedes preferí preferiste prefirió preferimos preferisteis prefirieron
Which verbs stem change in the preterite? Only –ir verbs that were stem changing in the present form are stem changing in the preterite. There are only 2 stem changes: O > U & E > I
Examples competir (i,i) competí competimos competiste compitió compitieron morir (ue,u) morí morimos moriste murió murieron pedir (i,i) pedí pedimos pediste pidió pidieron