Present Tense Lesson 2

Vocabulary

1. comenzar - to begin

2. preferir - to prefer

3. brotar - to sprout

4. reír - to laugh

5. sonreír - to smile

6. destruir - to destroy

7. espiar - to spy

8. actuar - to act

9. perder - to lose

10. cerrar- to close

11. llover - to rain

12. mentir - to lie

13. dormir - to sleep

14. medir - to measure

15. incluir - to include

16. sustituir - to substitute

17. concluir - to conclude

18. guiar - to guide

19. variar - to vary

20. continuar - to continue

　Some verbs change while conjugating them in the present tense.  These verbs change in a vowel and are called stem changers.  For "AR" and "ER" verbs, the e changes into ie and the o changes into ue. "IR" verbs change the e to ie or just i and the o changes to ue.  (Note that stem changers do not appear in nosotros and vosotros).  So what does this all mean?  Verbs change letters while conjugating to keep the pronunciation of the verb (according to the rules of Spanish).  This skill requires a lot of practice and a few years to grasp, but here are some of the main stem changers.  (Note that Spanish dictionaries put (ie), (ue), (i), (y), (í), or (ú) to indicate that a verb is a stem changer

Similar verbs are as follows: (underlined letters are the stem changers)

    1) perder, cerrar, and llover ("AR" and "ER" stem changers)

    2) mentir, dormir, medir ("IR" stem changers)   

    3) sonreír (í stem changer)

    4) incluir, sustituir, and concluir ("-UIR" verbs (not "-GUIR" verbs), a "y" is placed after the "u" when conjugating).

    5) guiar, variar (-iar verbs stress the í) 

    6) continuar (-uar verbs stress the ú)

Questions

1) The conjugation of perder in the tú form (present tense) is?

A) perdes

B) pierdes

C) perdís

D) pierdís

2) Fill in the blank with the best answer.

                            durante el día.                                during the day.

A) duermo

B) cierro

C) concluyo

D) lluevo

For more questions, see the present tense mastery questions.

Present Tense

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