5.20 Los verbos con cambios vocálicos

Verbos con cambios vocálicos (Stem-changing verbs)

We have seen several verbs so far that change the final vowel of their stem in some of their conjugated forms. For example: ¡Ay! Me duelen los pies (doler), and Los niños tienen diez años (tener).

These are not random irregularities– there are four categories of stem-changing verbs. They follow a similar pattern of changing the last vowel of their stem in the conjugated forms where that vowel is stressed.

A. Verbos con cambio vocálico e→ie

Comenzar (to start, to begin)
	Singular	Plural
1a	comienzo	comenzamos
2a	comienzas	comenzáis
3a	comienza	comienzan

Note: The nosotros and vosotros forms do not change their ‘e’ to ‘ie’, because the stress in those forms falls on the next syllable.

Remember that the stem-changing vowel does not affect the personal ending for the verb, which depends on who the subject is and whether the verb is in the –ar, -er, or -ir conjugation group.

Here is an example of an -er verb that has the e→ie stem change:

Querer (to want)
	Singular	Plural
1a	quiero	queremos
2a	quieres	queréis
3a	quiere	quieren

B. Verbos con cambio vocálico o→ue

Dormir (to sleep)
	Singular	Plural
1a	duermo	dormimos
2a	duermes	dormís
3a	duerme	duermen

C. Verbos con cambio vocálico e→i

Interestingly, all the verbs in this group are -ir verbs.

Pedir (to ask for, to request)
	Singular	Plural
1a	pido	pedimos
2a	pides	pedís
3a	pide	piden

Vocabulario: algunos verbos con cambio vocálico o→ue

• Almorzar (to eat lunch)
• Costar (to cost)
• Devolver (to return a thing, to give back)
• Encontrar (to find)
• Poder (to be able)
• Recordar (to remember)
• Volver (to return, to come back)

Vocabulario: único verbo con cambio vocálico u→ue

• Jugar (to play) (u–>ue: juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan)

Vocabulario: algunos verbos con cambio vocálico e→ie

• Cerrar (to close)
• Empezar (to start, to begin)
• Entender (to understand)
• Pensar (to think)
• Preferir (to prefer)
• Perder (to lose)
• Sentir (to feel)
• Tener (to have) (yo tengo, tú tienes…)
• Venir (to come) (yo vengo, tú vienes…)

Vocabulario: algunos verbos con cambio vocálico e→i

• Decir (to say, to tell) (yo digo, tú dices…)
• Reír (to laugh) (yo río, tú ríes, él ríe, nosotros reímos, vosotros reís, ellos ríen)
• Repetir (to repeat)
• Seguir (to follow, to continue) (yo sigo, tú sigues…)
• Servir (to serve)
• Sonreír (to smile) (yo sonrío, tú sonríes…)