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Spanish Irregular Present Tense Verbs

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Spanish verbs irregular in the present tense!

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Stem-Changing Verbs Ending in -ar and -er!
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e → ie
-ar

o → ue
-er

pensar - to think! querer - to want/! acertar - to guess right/ ! love/wish! hit the mark! ascender - to ! apretar - to tighten/! ascend/promote! squeeze/be tight! defender - to ! atravesar - to cross! defend! cerrar - to close! descender - to ! comenzar - to begin/! descend! commence! encender - to light/! confesar - to confess! ignite! despertar(se) - to ! entender - to ! awaken/wake up! understand! empezar - to begin! perder - to lose encerrar - to lock in/! contain! gobernar - to govern! helar - to freeze! nevar - to snow! quebrar - to break! remendar - to patch/!
mend! …show more content…

sonreír(se) - to smile! vestir(se) - to dress (oneself)

Spelling Changes in the Present Tense!
Verbs ending in -uir (except -guir)

Verbs ending in -iar and -uar

insert a ‘y’ after the u in all forms except nosotros and vosotros

Some -iar and -uar verbs stress the i or the u !
(í, ú) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros

huir - to flee! concluir - to conclude/end! construir - to construct! contribuir - to contribute! destruir - to destroy! distribuir - to distribute! incluir - to include! influir - to influence/have influence! sustituir - to substitute

enviar - to send! confiar (en) - to rely (on)/! confide (in)! espiar - to spy! fiarse (de) - to trust! guiar - to guide! resfriarse - to catch cold! variar - to vary

continuar - to continue! actuar - to act! graduase - to graduate

Verbs ending in -cer or -cir

Verbs ending in -ger or -gir

Verbs ending in -guir

c → z before o or a

g → j before o or a

gu → g before o or a

vencer - to conquer/overcome! convencer - to convince! ejercer - to exert/exercise/! practice (a profession)!

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For -cer and -cir verbs with a vowel directly before the c, change the c to zc for the ‘yo’ form as in conozco and traduzco dirigir - to direct! afligir - to afflict/grieve! coger - to seize/grasp/catch! escoger - to choose/select! exigir - to demand/require! fingir - to pretend! proteger - to protect! recoger - to gather/pick up

distinguir - to distinguish!

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