Spanish Stem-Changing Verbs: Pensar, Querer and Preferir

Spanish Stem-Changing Verbs: Pensar, Querer and Preferir

Review: Regular Verbs

• Regular verbs have two parts: the stem and the ending.

• The ending is the AR, ER, or IR you see at the end of the infinitive form.

• The stem is the part of the verb that comes before the ending.

• HABL (stem) AR (ending) -> HABLAR

• COM (stem) ER (ending) -> COMER

• ESCRIB (stem) IR (ending) -> ESCRIBIR

• When you conjugate a normal verb, you leave the stem alone and change the ending to match the subject.

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Review: JUGAR

• Jugar means "to play a sport or game."

• It is a stem-changing verb. This means that when you conjugate it, you usually change the ending AND the stem.

• When conjugating jugar in the present-tense, the U in the stem changes to a UE in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

Jugar

If you hilight the forms of jugar where the stem changes, the shape looks like a boot. For this reason, stem-changing verbs are sometimes called "boot verbs" or "shoe verbs."

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PENSAR

Pensar means "to think" or "to plan."

It is a stem-changing -AR verb.

The E in the stem changes to an IE in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

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QUERER

Querer means "to want" or "to love."

It is a stem-changing -ER verb.

The E in the stem changes to an IE in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

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PREFERIR

Preferir means "to prefer."

It is a stem-changing -IR verb.

Note that preferir has two E's in the stem.

The second E in the stem changes to an IE in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

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• Querer and Preferir can be followed by nouns to say somebody wants or prefers that noun.

• Yo quiero estos calcetines. = I want these socks.

• Ella prefiere esa gorra. = She prefers that cap.

• Pensar can be followed by en and a noun to say somebody is thinking about that noun.

• Yo pienso en el examen. = I am thinking about the test.

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• Querer, Preferir and Pensar can all be followed by a verb in the infinitive form.

• Yo quiero comprar esta camiseta . = I want to buy this shirt.

• Ella prefiere cantar el lunes. = She prefers to sing on Monday.

• Yo pienso correr hoy. = I plan to run today.

• Notice that pensar does not use an en when followed by an infinitive verb.

Multiple Choice

Complete each sentence with the correct word(s).

Yo ... comprar las botas.

• pienso

• quiere

Multiple Choice

Complete each sentence with the correct word(s).

Ella quiere ...

• baila con Julio.

• comer la ensalada.