Conjugaciones del pretérito: Stem-changing verbs
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Verbs which are stem-changing in the present tense may or may not have that stem change in the pretérito. Either way, they use the same endings for the pretérito as the regular verbs they share their infinitive ending with.
Stem-changing –ar verbs
Stem-changing verbs that end in –ar do not stem-change in the pretérito – they’re conjugated like regular –ar verbs, including taking the same endings:
- -é
- -aste
- -ó
- -amos
- -asteis
- -aron
Por ejemplo…
pensar (to think) |
cerrar (to close) |
pensé | cerré |
pensaste | cerraste |
pensó | cerró |
pensamos | cerramos |
pensasteis | cerrasteis |
pensaron | cerraron |
Verbs that end in –gar and –zar lose their stem change as above, but gain a spelling change in the yo form of the pretérito:
changes to | ||
g | gu | |
z | c |
Por ejemplo…
jugar (to play) |
empezar (to begin) |
jugué | empecé |
jugaste | empezaste |
jugó | empezó |
jugamos | empezamos |
jugasteis | empezasteis |
jugaron | empezaron |
Stem-changing –er verbs
Stem-changing verbs that end in –er do not stem-change in the pretérito – they’re conjugated like regular –er verbs, including taking the same endings:
- -í
- -iste
- -ió
- -imos
- -isteis
- -ieron
Por ejemplo…
entender (to hear) |
volver (to return) |
entendí | volví |
entendiste | volviste |
entendió | volvió |
entendimos | volvimos |
entendisteis | volvisteis |
entendieron | volvieron |
Stem-changing -ir verbs
1. E > I and E > IE stem-changing verbs keep that stem-change only in their third person pretérito conjugations.
Por ejemplo…
pedir (to ask for) |
mentir (to lie) |
pedí | mentí |
pediste | mentiste |
pidió | mintió |
pedimos | mentimos |
pedisteis | mentisteis |
pidieron | mintieron |
2. O > UE stem-changing verbs change to U instead in their third person pretérito conjugations:
Por ejemplo…
dormir (to sleep) |
dormí |
dormiste |
durmió |
dormimos |
dormisteis |
durmieron |
Pretérito Quizzes
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on pretérito conjugations:
Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!
Related lessons
- Introduction to pretérito
- Conjugations of regular verbs
- Conjugations of irregular verbs
- Pretérito conjugations – PwLS super list
- Pretérito vs Imperfecto
- Stem-changing verbs
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