1.8: El pretérito con cambios de raíz

Stem changing verbs in the preterite

Recall that there are -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs that have a stem change in the present tense. However, they don't all behave the same in the preterite.

Stem-changing -AR and -ER verbs

-AR and -ER verbs that have a stem change in the present tense, don’t have a stem change in the preterite tense. For example:

• (devolver) Yo devolví los pantalones por ser muy grandes. (I returned the pants for being too big.)
• (volar) El billonario voló a España para comprar zapatos de cuero. (The billionaire flew to Spain to buy leather shoes.)

Or, in table form:

Present	Preterite	Present	Preterite
e → ie cerrar cierro cerramos cierras cerráis cierra cierran	no stem change cerrar cerré cerramos cerraste cerrasteis cerró cerraron	o → ue volver vuelve vuelven	no stem change volver volví volvimos volviste volvisteis volvió volvieron

Stem-changing -IR verbs in the preterite

However, the -IR stem-changing verbs *do* have a change in the preterite: but it’s only in the third person (singular and plural), and -IR stem-changers will change their stem vowel to just the first letter of the stem-change they had in the present tense.

-IR verbs that changed from “e” to “ie” in the present will change just from “e” to “i” in the preterit. -IR verbs that changed from “o” to “ue” in the present will change just from “o” to “u” in the preterit. And -IR verbs that changed from “e” to “i” in the present will do just that in the preterit.

Conjugation of stem-changing -IR verbs in the preterite

Present: (e-ie) Preterite: (e-i)	Present: (o-ue), Preterite: (o-u)	Present: (e-i), Preterite: (e-i)
Preferir - to prefer	Dormir - to sleep	Pedir - to request
preferí	dormí	pedí
preferiste	dormiste	pediste
prefirió	durmió	pidió
preferimos	dormimos	pedimos
preferisteis	dormisteis	pedisteis
prefirieron	durmieron	pidieron

• ¿Pediste unas prendas de ropa de Zara.com? (Did you order/request some clothing from Zara.com?)
• No, pero Luisa pidió mucha ropa de ese sitio. (No, but Luisa ordered lots of clothes from that site.)
• Ella se vistió de pies a cabeza con ropa de Zara.com. (She dressed from head to toe in clothes from Zara.com.)

The best way to learn these conjugations is to say them out loud until they sound right to you. Practice, and train your ear! Once you hear the endings and changes right in your head, you’ll be able to spell them right on the page.

Some common stem-changing -IR verbs

Ayer Blanca se divirtió mucho en la cocina.	El gato durmió muy bien anoche.	El sábado pasado los camareros sirvieron comida deliciosa.

Stem change "e" → "i"

The vowel highlighted in bold will change the "e" → "i" in the the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" (3rd person singular and plural) in the preterite tense.

Spanish	English		Spanish	English
advertir	to warn		pedir	to ask for (something)
conseguir	to get; to obtain		preferir	to prefer
convertir	to convert		repetir	to repeat
convertirse en	to become		seguir	to continue; to follow
despedir	to fire (job dismissal)		sentir	to feel (regret)
despedirse	to say goodbye		sentirse	to feel
divertirse	to have fun		servir	to serve
medir	to measure		vestir	to dress someone
mentir	to lie		vestirse	to get dressed

Stem change "o" → "u"

The vowel highlighted in bold will change the "o" → "u" in the the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" (3rd person singular and plural) in the preterite tense.

Spanish	English
dormir	to sleep
dormirse	to fall asleep
morir	to die
morirse	to die off (of something, ie: of love)

Stems that end in a vowel for verbs ending in -ER and -IR

• Observe that the stem of -ER and -IR verbs leer, caer, oír and huir end in a vowel: le-, ca-, o-, and hu-.
• For verbs like these, a written accent is needed on the "í" for the conjugations of yo, tú, and nosotros.
• Also for verbs like these, the vowel "i" of the ending in the conjugations of usted, él, ella and ustedes, ellos, ellas will change to "y". This is because the endings for -ER and -IR are "ió" and "ieron" (whereas, verbs ending in -AR are just "-o" and "-aron").

Leer - to read	Caer - to fall	Oír - to hear	Huír - to flee
leí           leímos leíste leyó       leyeron	caí           caímos caíste cayó       cayeron	oí           oímos oíste oyó       oyeron	huí           huímos huíste huyó       huyeron

Note that in the conjugations above, the endings are in bold and the spelling change is indicated in blue.

Videolección

By clicking the icon below, you can hear a video lesson about conjugating stem changing verbs in the preterite.

¡A practicar!

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This page excerpted, remixed, and adapted from 4.7: Pretérito con cambios de raíz by Erica Brown, Alejandra Escudero, María Cristina Montoya, & Elizabeth Small (OER SUNY), licensed under CC BY 4.0, and from 5.6: El pretérito de los verbos regulares, 6.2: Los pretéritos irregulares, parte 1, and 6.2.1: Práctica- Los pretéritos irregulares, parte 1 by M. Barrio De Mendoza, K Gutiérrez, H.Ho, C. Lin, & A Stere Lugo through ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.