Semana 10 – Verb conjugation
Learning Objectives
This week we are going to:
- finish the STEM changing verb conjugation
- we are going to see other verbs with an irregular 1st person singular conjugation
Stem changing verbs: the four groups (Verbos con cambio de radical: los cuatro grupos)
Here you have a summary of the 4 different groups of STEM CHANGING verbs we’ve seen. Note that JUGAR is the only verb in its own little group!
Key Takeaways: verbos con cambios de radical (verbos bota)
e-ie: atender (to pay attention), cerrar (to close), empezar (a) (to start – doing sth.), entender (to understand), fregar (to wash, to mop), pensar (en) (to think – of…), perder (to lose), preferir (to prefer), querer (to want), nevar (to snow), tener (+g) (to have, introduces a -g in the first person), mentir (to lie).
e.i: medir (to measure), pedir (to ask for, to order), servir (to serve), repetir (to repeat), seguir (to continue), conseguir (to achieve, to get), elegir (to choose), sonreír (to smile).
o-ue: poder (CAN, to be able to), costar (to cost), contar (to tell, to count), volver (a) (to return -to), encontrar (to find), mostrar (so show), almorzar (to have lunch), dormir (to sleep), llover (to rain), recordar (to remember), soñar (to dream), oler (to smell… this one is peculiar. We will discuss it later).
u-ue: jugar (to play… is the only verb in this group)
All of these four groups’ verbs change the STEM’s last vowel when conjugated except for the NOSOTROS-AS and VOSOTROS-AS conjugations (I know, I’ve said this like 10 times already, but my dear and patient friends… you would be surprised…)
NOW, this is only a sample. There are more verbs, mainly in groups 1 and 2. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell from an INFINITIVE if a verb is irregular or not. If you go to the dictionary, however, you will find that a stem-changing verb will appear as, for example, “JUGAR (u-ue): definition blah blah blah…”
Now we’ll see these verbs in action. I’ll translate the examples in each box. I’ll also explain some of them further when needed.
Ejemplos de verbos con cambios de radical: e – ie
atender & entender>
Yo siempre atiendo en clase, pero no siempre entiendo la gramática I always pay attention in class, but I don’t always understand the grammar
querer & nevar>
Mi hermana quiere ver nieve este fin de semana. Nos encanta My sister wants to see the snow this
cuando nieva weekend. We love it when it snows
empezar (a)>
a. ¿Cuándo empiezan las clases, professor? When do classes start, professor?
b. Empezamos el lunes a las 10:00 We start Monday at 10:00
pensar (en)>
Pienso en vosotros a menudo, y vosotros, ¿pensáis en mí? I think of you often. And you, do you think of me?
mentir>
a. Pedro no miente nunca Pedro never lies
b. No se llama Pedro, se llama Luis His name is not Pedro, his name is Luis
Ejemplos de verbos con cambios de radical: e – i
medir>
a. ¿cuánto mides? How tall are you? (“How much do you measure?”)
b. Yo mido 178 cm I’m 178 cm.
sonreír> l
La profesora no sonríe nunca, pero los estudiantes The teacher never smiles, but us, students always
sonreímos siempre smile
repetir>
Yo repito siempre las conjugaciones en la ducha I always repeat conjugations under the shower
pedir>
a. ¿qué pedimos para comer? What do we order for food?
b. Tranquilo, yo pido algo ligero Relax, I’ll order something light
elegir>
a. ¿a quién eliges? Who do you choose?
b. ¡Te elijo a ti! I choose you!
¡OJO! Did you notice that ELEGIR adopts a “J” in the first person? No weird rules here. It’s just that spelling always follows the pronunciation. And the “G” in ELEGIR pronunciation is the soft throaty “J” sound. Therefore, if you write “*eligo” the pronunciation of the GO would be the hard G pronunciation (as in “gato”). In order to reflect on the spelling of the soft “J” sound, we need to change the spelling from “G” to “J”.
In this group, we have a verb that deserves a bit of an explanation in terms of usage and contents: SEGUIR (to follow or to continue):
- When followed by “a” plus a noun, SEGUIR means “to follow”, as in:
- Yo siempre sigo a un líder porque no tengo personalidad (I always follow a leader because I have no personality)
- Mi amiga sigue a celebridades en las redes sociales (My friend follows celebrities in the social media)
- When followed by a gerund (the equivalent to the English -ING, that in Spanish is created with the ending -ANDO for -AR verbs and -IENDO for the rest), SEGUIR means to keep or continue doing something:
- Nosotros seguimos trabajando en verano (We keep working in summer)
Let’s see other examples:
sigo
sigues
sigue
seguimos
seguís
siguen
El perro sigue a su dueña The dog follows her owner
BUT
seguir + gerundio (acción en progress continuada)
Yo sigo aprendiendo español I keep / continue learning Spanish (or, more freely, “I’m still learning Spanish”)
¿sigues jugando al tenis? Do you still play tennis? (literally, “Do you continue / keep playing tennis/”)
Uff… el profesor sigue hablando Uff… the teacher keeps talking…
Ejemplos de verbos con cambios de radical: o – ue
dormir>
a. ¿cuánto duermes al día? How much do you sleep a day?
b. Yo duermo 12 horas, como mi gato I sleep 12 hours, like my cat
soñar>
Yo no sueño con los angelitos. Sueño contigo I don’t dream of angels. I dream of you.
recordar>
Mi hermana no recuerda nunca comprar el pan My sister never remembers to buy bread
costar>
a. ¿cuánto cuesta una casa en Melbourne? How much is a house in Melbourne?
b. Cuesta demasiado It costs too much
poder>
Yo no puedo hacer esto. ¿Puedes ayudarme? I can’t do this. Can you help me?
¡OJO! Note that OLER (to smell) kind of belongs in this group, but it’s a bit strange… It introduces an “H” at the beginning when the STEM changes!!!
Ejemplos verbo oler (o- ue)
huelo
hueles
huele
olemos
oléis
huelen
¡Hueles muy bien! ¿qué perfumes llevas? You smell very good! What perfume are you wearing?
Cuando jugamos al fútbol olemos fatal When we play football, we smell terrible
Two further verbs in this group, SOLER and VOLVER are quite important, so please allow us to explain them a bit further in the next couple of boxes:
Ejemplos de verbo soler (o-ue)
suelo
sueles
suele
solemos
soléis
suelen
soler + infinitivo- siempre como verbo en perífrasis, indica acción habitual:
- Yo suelo almorzar sobre la una I usually have lunch around
(normalmente almuerzo a la una) (Normally, I have lunch around 1)
- Sueles ir a clase todas las semanas? Do you usually go to class every week?
-normalmente vas a clase todas las semanas) (Do you normally go to class every week?)
- Mi padre suele cocinar los lunes My dad often cooks on Mondays
(normalmente mi padre cocina los lunes) (My dad normally cooks on Mondays)
Aside from being a STEM-changing verb, SOLER is a peculiar one for other reasons. It is actually the only verb in Spanish that is never used on its own, and it always needs to be followed by an INFINITIVE…
In this construction (SOLER conjugated + INFINITIVE), SOLER doesn’t mean much; it just indicates that the action in the infinitive that follows it is done often, usually or habitually by the subject.
In the box above, we have three examples of a sentence with SOLER and then, in between brackets, a different sentence that actually means the same without SOLER.
VOLVER is more straightforward, but it has two common usages that need a bit of an explanation:
- VOLVER a + place means to return or go back to a place
- VOLVER a + INFINITIVE means to do something again or to start doing something again that you used to do but had stopped for a while.
Ejemplos de verbo voler (o-ue)
vuelvo
vuelves
vuelve
volvemos
volvéis
vuelven
- volver + a un lugar – significa regresar o retornar a un lugar
(VOLVER A + PLACE)
Ana siempre vuelve a casa después de la universidad Ana always goes back home after uni.
BUT
- volver + a infinitivo -perífrasis que significa la nueva repetición de una acción
(VOLVER A + INFINITIVE)
Siempre vuelvo a comer pizza y helado I always start eating pizza and ice cream again después de hacer dieta after a diet.
a. ¿cuándo vuelves a trabajar? When do you start working again?
b. Vuelvo a trabajar en enero I start working again in January.
Ejemplos de verbo jugar (o -ue)
Yo no juego al fútbol, juego al tenis, ¿tú a qué juegas? I don’t play football; I play tennis. What do you play?
Yo juego al billar o a las cartas, no me gusta hacer deporte I play pool and cards… I don’t like exercising
Nosotros jugamos al baloncesto con nuestros amigos We play basketball with our friends
¡No me gusta cuando juegan conmigo! I don’t like when people play with me!
JUGAR (to play) is the only verb in its group. We’ve discussed it enough already.
Revise the usages and peculiarities of JUGAR! We saw them in Semana 8.
Well, these are the 4 STEM CHANGING groups and the more relevant verbs in each group.
Now, let’s revise irregular verbs in the 1st person and, possibly, add a couple!
Irregular verbs in the 1st person (Verbos irregulares en primera persona)
We have already introduced most of these: verbs that have a regular conjugation except for the YO person. They usually introduce -GO as the ending. Some of them are even more creative, the little scoundrels, and introduce -IGO (like TRAER “to bring”). Some others introduce -ZCO…
Let’s have a look at conjugations and examples with HACER (to do or make), TRAER (to bring or to carry) and PONER (to put):
Ejemplos de irregulares 1a persona
Hacer
hago
haces
hace
hacemos
hacéis
hacen
Traer
traigo
traes
trae
traemos
traéis
traen
Poner
pongo
pones
pone
ponemos
ponéis
ponen
Soy como la Cenicienta… siempre hago la cama, hago la comida, pongo la mesa, pongo la lavadora, traigo las compras del supermercado…
I’m like Cinderella… I always make the bed, make food, I set the table, I put on the washing machine, I bring the shopping from the supermarket…
Mis hermanos no hacen nada, no hacen sus camas, no ponen la mesa, no barren, no limpian, nada de nada… sólo traen amigos a casa y ponen la radio o la TV y ensucian todo…
My siblings do nothing; they don’t make their beds, they don’t sweep the floors, they don’t clean anything at all… they only bring friends home and put the radio or the TV on… and they get everything dirty.
Now, the following verbs, OÍR (to hear, to listen) and VER (to see), are also irregular. Note the changes from “I” to “Y” in OÍR:
Ejemplos de irregulares 1a persona
Oír
oigo
oyes
oye
oímos
oís
oyen
Ver
veo
ves
ve
vemos
veis
ven
a. Yo no oigo muy bien, ¿y tú, oyes bien? I can’t hear very well. Can you hear well?
b. Sí, yo oigo genial, pero veo un poco mal Yes, I can hear very well, but I can’t see very well…
FINALLY!!! (YAYYYY) we have verbs that introduce -ZCO ONLY in the 1st person singular conjugation (the rest is regular). We have two varieties:
In the -UZCO group we have traducir (to translate), conducir (to drive), producir (to produce), introducir (to introduce), reducir (to reduce)
Ejemplos de verbos irregulares 1a persona: -ucir -uzco
traducir, conducir, producir, introducir, reducir…
Soy un gran ser humano. Y muy modesto: Traduzco 7 idiomas, conduzco un Ferrari eléctrico, produzco películas, introduzco a la gente en mi círculo y reduzco las emisiones al medio ambiente. ¿Tú traduces algo, conduces un coche decente, reduces emisiones…?
I’m a great human being. And really modest. I translate from 7 languages, I drive an electric Ferrari, I produce films, I introduce people to my circle, and I drive an electric Ferrari, produce films, introduce people to my circle, and reduce emissions to the environment. Do you translate anything, do you drive a decent car, do you reduce emissions…?
- In the -ZCO group, we have parecer (to seem or look like), crecer (to grow), conocer (to know), reconocer (to recognise)
Ejemplos de verbos irregulares 1a persona: -cer -zco
parecer, crecer, conocer, reconocer…
Cada día crezco un centímetro más. Parezco un pino. No conozco a nadie tan alto. Reconozco que es un problema. ¿Tú no creces todos los días? Pareces normal de estatura.
Every day, I grow another centimetre. I look like a pine tree. I don’t know anybody taller than me. I recognise (acknowledge) it is a problem. Do you grow every day? You seem normal height-wise.
AND THAT’S ALL MIS AMIGOS Y AMIGAS!!!
ALL CONTENTS ARE DONE FOR THIS PART!
Remember to revise your vocab and grammar… and practice, practice and… practice.
And please, practice as much as you can. Listen to music, watch TV shows in Spanish, the news, or whatever. Find a Spanish-speaking friend. Or better, a few. Find a Spanish-speaking sweetheart if you are inclined that way! Read things online, short stories, billboards… whatever, but read if given a chance!
Anyhow. You’ve made it here. Much stuff in 10 weeks!
I hope you have enjoyed the ride, and I hope you’ll keep studying Spanish. It takes time (a lot). And effort (a bit). But it pays off.
¡Nos vemos pronto!
