Stem changing words in Spanish

Spanish Stem Changing Verbs: In the Present Tense

What is a Stem Change?

Remember the two ways in which the verbs venir and tener were irregular? First, their yo form had a ‘g’ before the ‘o,’ and second, they had a stem change in the tú, Ud., and Uds. forms.

This notion of a stem change will become quite familiar to you over time, as many Spanish verbs are stem changing in every form exept nosotros/as and vosotros/as.

Let’s go back and review what a stem is. The stem of a verb is the part of the verb that is left once you take away the –ar, -er, or –ir ending. In regular verbs, the stem does not change no matter what ending you add on to it.

However, in stem changing verbs, the stem will change in every form but two. There are three common types of stem changing verbs: ‘e’ to ‘ie’, ‘e’ to ‘i’, and ‘o’ to ‘ue.’

Review the following examples:

	e to ie COMENZAR to begin	e to i MEDIR to measure	o to ue DORMIR to sleep
Yo	comienzo	mido	duermo
Tú	comienzas	mides	duermes
Ud., él, ella	comienza	mide	duerme
Nosotros/as	comenzamos	medimos	dormimos
Vosotros/as	comenzáis	medéis	dormís
Uds., ellos, ellas	comienzan	miden	duermen

Por ejemplo:

A Rare Stem Change: i to ie

The stem change patterns above are the most common, but you will find a few verbs that make a different stem change: from i to ie.

	ADQUIRIR to acquire	INQUIRIR to inquire
Yo	adquiero	inquiero
Tú	adquieres	inquieres
Ud., él, ella	adquiere	inquiere
Nosotros/as	adquirimos	inquirimos
Vosotros/as	adquirís	inquirís
Uds., ellos, ellas	adquieren	inquieren

Por ejemplo:

1. Hoy tus padres adquieren una casa nueva.
- Today your parents acquire a new house.

2. Mi hermano inquiere sobre su equipo de fútbol.
- My brother inquires about his football team.

Another Rare Stem Change: u to ue

A verb that you will use often in Spanish is jugar (to play). Jugar is a stem-changing verb with a u to ue stem change.

Yo	juego
Tú	juegas
Ud., él, ella	juega
Nosotros/as	jugamos
Vosotros/as	jugáis
Uds., ellos, ellas	juegan

Por ejemplo:

Please note that jugar does not include the sense of playing music or an instrument. If you want to say that you play the guitar, you will use the verb tocar, as in, “Toco la guitarra.”

The Last and Strangest Stem Change: o to hue

Last of all, you should note that the verb oler (to smell) is also irregular. You’ll need to memorize this stem change if you want to talk of smelling the roses.

Yo	huelo
Tú	hueles
Ud., él, ella	huele
Nosotros/as	olemos
Vosotros/as	oléis
Uds., ellos, ellas	huelen

Por ejemplo:

In the next section we’ll work on more Spanish Irregular Verbs: Spanish Irregular Verbs in the "Yo" form.

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