Stem-changing verbs

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Stem-changing verbs

• AKA Boot verbs

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The infinitive is the basic, unconjugated form of
a verb, sometimes called the name of the verb.
-In English the infinitive is to verb to
begin, to want, to prefer, etc.
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• The Spanish infinitive is a single word with one
  of the following endings -ar, -er, or
  -ir
• empezar , querer , preferir
• We usually learn Spanish verbs in the infinitive,
  since that is what you start with in order to
  conjugate them.

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Verbs have two parts the ending and the stem
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The ending is the last two letters of a verb in
infinitive. It should be -ar -er or -ir
empezar
Querer
Preferir
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The stem is what is left after dropping the
ending (last two letters of the infinitive)
ar
empez
stem
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er
quer
stem
prefer
ir
stem
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The last vowel of the stem will change. In this
type of stem changing verb e will change to ie
quer
e
er
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Verbs that change e?ie
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Querer
qu
ie
r
o
Yo
Nosotros
mos
quere
D
Tú
qu
ie
r
es
quer
Vosotros
éis
Él Ella
qu
ie
r
e
Ellos Ellas
qu
ie
r
en
Ud.
qu
ie
Uds.
qu
ie
r
en
r
e
11
Preferir
pref
ie
r
o
Yo
mos
preferi
Nosotros
D
Tú
pref
ie
r
es
prefer
Vosotros
ís
Él Ella
pref
ie
r
e
Ellos Ellas
pref
ie
r
en
Ud.
pref
ie
Uds.
pref
ie
r
en
r
e
12
Empezar
emp
ie
o
Yo
Nosotros
mos
empeza
z
D
Tú
emp
ie
z
as
empez
Vosotros
áis
Él Ella
emp
ie
z
a
Ellos Ellas
emp
ie
z
an
Ud.
emp
ie
Uds.
emp
ie
z
an
z
a