AP Spanish Study Sheet: Stem-Changing Verbs / Preterite

AP Spanish
Study Sheet: Stem-Changing Verbs / Preterite
Figure It Out!
Page 1 of 4
Ayer almorcé con mis padres. Me sentí muy mal porque llegué tarde. Por eso, pagué la
cuenta. Comimos muy bien. Durante el almuerzo hablamos de mis clases y de la familia.
Ellos me dijeron que mis hermanos compitieron en un torneo de tenis. Al final de nuestra
visita mis padres me pidieron que los visitara más a menudo y salieron. Fue un buen
almuerzo.
In the previous paragraph about this person's lunch appointment with his parents, what do
the underlined words have in common? How do they differ? Do you see any patterns in how
they are conjugated?
Introduction
The majority of the verbs that are used most often in Spanish are either irregular, have an
irregular 1 st person singular (yo) form, are stem-changing, or have spelling changes.
This activity focuses on the last three of these four types of verbs in the preterit tense.
Preterit Tense: Stem-Changing Verbs
Unlike the present tense, where stem-changing affects verbs from all three classes of verbs
(–ar, –er, and –ir), in the preterit tense stem changing occurs only in the third person
singular and plural forms of certain –ir verbs. All –ar and –er verbs that have stem changes
in the present tense are completely regular in the preterit. That is, all –ar and –er verbs
that stem-change in the present tense do not stem-change in the preterit tense. They are
conjugated like other regular verbs in the preterit tense.
The stem-changes that affect certain –ir verbs in the preterit are "simple." That is, the
stem-changing vowel is replaced with a single vowel, never two. For example, the verb
dormir (ue, u) in the 3 rd person singular is duerme in the present tense (the –o- changes to
–ue-) and durmió in the preterit tense (the –o- changes to –u-). Remember, the vowels
that follow the infinitive in the parenthesis show the stem-changes (present, preterit).
In the following table, the dark gray areas forming the base of the chart require a stem
change in the preterit tense (for verbs that do change their stems), and light gray areas
don’t. That is, for these types of verbs, only the 3 rd person singular and plural forms of
certain –ir verbs receive a stem-change in the preterit tense. That simple!
THE -IR "SANDAL"
yo nosotros
tú vosotros
él/ella/usted ellos/ellas/ustedes
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AP Spanish
Study Sheet: Stem-Changing Verbs / Preterite
Page 2 of 4
The following table shows the three types of stem changes that occur in the preterit tense.
O (ue, U) E (ie, I) E (i, I)
DORMIR (UE, U) – (to sleep) SENTIR (IE, I) – (to feel) PEDIR (I, I) – (to ask for)
dormí dormimos sentí sentimos pedí pedimos
dormiste dormisteis sentiste sentisteis pediste pedisteis
durmió durmieron sintió sintieron pidió pidieron
Note that each of these three examples of –ir verbs is followed by parentheses which
include: first, the present tense stem change (which occurs in all verb forms except
nosotros and vosotros), and second, the preterit tense stem change (which occurs only in
the 3 rd person singular and plural). Also note that they are all –ir verbs.
The infinitive forms of stem-changing verbs don't look any different from those that are
completely regular. So when you learn a new verb, either in vocabulary lists or just while
reading a passage, make a mental note of whether it is a stem-changing verb or not. The
following table will help to get you started. It shows some common "simple" stem-changing
verbs in the preterit.
OTHER O (ue, U) VERBS OTHER E (ie, I) VERBS OTHER E (i, I) VERBS
dormir
morir
to sleep
to die
Preterit Tense: Spelling Changes
advertir
consentir
convertir
divertir
hervir
mentir
preferir
sentir
sugerir
to advise
to allow
to convert
to entertain
to boil
to lie
to prefer
to feel
to suggest
Some forms of some verbs require a spelling change. Why?
competir
despedir
gemir
impedir
medir
pedir
repetir
servir
vestir
to compete
to send away
to groan
to impede
to measure
to ask for
to repeat
to serve
to dress
Unlike English, Spanish spelling corresonds very closely to the way words are pronounced.
That’s why some verbs require a spelling change: to maintain the correct pronunciation of
the original sounds found in the infinitive verb.
There are two types of spelling changes in the preterit tense: the yo form and the third
person (él, ella, ellos, ellas) forms. The following table highlights the spelling changes that
occur only in the 1 st person singular (yo) form of verbs that end in –car, –gar,–zar, and –
guar. It also shows some common verbs with that particular spelling change.
© 2008 powerspeaK 12 . All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only.
No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
powerspeaK 12 .

AP Spanish
Study Sheet: Stem-Changing Verbs / Preterite
Page 3 of 4
Verbs ending in –car change the –c– to –qu– in the 1 st person singular.
buscar (to look for) busqué, buscaste, buscó, buscamos, buscasteis, buscan
aparcar to park indicar to indicate
clarificar to clarify justificar to justify
Other –car verbs: clasificar to classify practicar to practice
destacar to emphasize sacar
to get
empacar to pack (up) tocar
to touch
Verbs ending in –gar change the –g– to –gu– in the 1 st person singular.
llegar (to arrive) llegué, llegaste, llegó, llegamos, llegasteis, llegaron
cegar
to blind plegar to fold
colgar
to hang regar
to water
Other –gar verbs: entregar to hand in rogar
to beg
jugar
to play tragar
to swallow
pagar
to pay
vagar
to wander
Verbs ending in –zar change the –z– to –c– in the 1 st person singular.
cruzar (to cross) crucé, cruzaste, cruzó, cruzamos, cruzasteis, cruzaron
almorzar to (have) forzar
to force
autorizar lunch
gozar
to enjoy
Other –zar verbs:
cazar
comenzar
to authorize
to hunt
organizar
simbolizar
to organize
to symbolize
empezar to begin
to start
tropezar to stumble
Verbs ending in –guar change the –gu– to –gü– in the 1 st person singular.
averiguar (to ascertain) averigüé, averiguaste, averiguó, averiguamos, averiguasteis,
averiguaron
Other –guar verbs:
apaciguar
amortiguar
to pacify
to cushion
atestiguar to testify
Certain –er and –ir verbs with the stem ending in a vowel (i.e. –aer, –eer, –oír, and –oer)
change the i to y in the third person singular and plural conjugations. This accurately
represents the natural pronunciation of producing vowel + i + vowel. The following table
shows changes that happen only in the 3 rd person singular and plural forms in the preterit
tense. It also shows some common verbs with this particular spelling change. Of course, as
with all the verb lists in this Activity, the list is not complete; it includes only a few typical
examples.
© 2008 powerspeaK 12 . All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only.
No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
powerspeaK 12 .

AP Spanish
Study Sheet: Stem-Changing Verbs / Preterite
VOWEL + I + VOWEL VOWEL + Y + VOWEL / VOWEL + Í
Page 4 of 4
–ER –IR
CREER (to believe) INCLUIR (to include)
creí creímos incluí incluimos
creíste creísteis incluiste incluisteis
creyó creyeron incluyó incluyeron
Other –vIv– verbs:
caer
concluir
construir
contribuir
huir
to fall
to conclude
to construct
to contribute
to escape from
leer
oír
poseer
proveer
sustituir
to read
to hear
to possess
to provide
to substitute
© 2008 powerspeaK 12 . All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only.
No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
powerspeaK 12 .