What's wrong with my word choice?

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Ghost Writer

#12532 Tue, 07 Nov 06 10:39 PM

I was going through my Spanish workbook and came across a sentence:

Al entrar al cine, mis hermanos * (pedir) una soda.

I chose "pieden."

It said the correct answer was "piden."

I was thinking to myself, "How does that work?"

The current chapter of my book I'm working with describes turning the verbs from e to ie (i.e. perder --> pierdo) and u to ue (i.e. dormir --> duermo). I'm guessing this verb (pedir) goes from i to e?

What are the verb rules for the conversion of 'i' to 'e'?

Also, I'm wondering about a few others verbs.
How do I know which section of a verb to convert?

I look at preferir and sometimes turn it to "priefero."

However, this is not the correct way to do this. I put the 'i' infront of the first 'e' instead of the second 'e'.

Is there a way of knowing when to put the 'i' before the 'e'?

"Peder" is another example. How do I know where the 'i' is placed?

Ghost Writer

Joined on 28-07-2006

Usuario Principiante (32)

The materials I use to learn Spanish: http://tinyurl.com/yatjdw

Klavier

#12549 Wed, 08 Nov 06 02:57 PM

Regarding to verbs I have never use a rule such as the one you are asking for. I personally think that rules are useful when they are predictable, in this case, as I can't remember a rule for this conversion, I'd say that the only way out would be learning these changes by heart.

Klavier

Joined on 23-09-2005

Chile

Miembro Senior (1,014)

Señor Helicóptero

#12556 Wed, 08 Nov 06 05:31 PM

Hola Ghost!

The verbs you are referring to, that when conjugated in the present tense; change from o to ue or e to ie (except in the nosotros and vosotros forms), are known as ‘stem-changing verbs’. There is a third set of verbs to add to this group that change from e to i. ‘Pedir’ is one of these verbs.

Here’s more information: [link]

In the case of ‘Preferir’: The reason it becomes ‘prefiero’ and not ‘priefero’ is that the letter that changes is always in the syllable that you would stress when pronouncing it.

Hope this helps!

Señor Helicóptero

Joined on 23-10-2006

Inglaterra

Usuario Principiante (13)

Por favor, corrige mis errores. ¡No se muestre misericordioso!

Anonymous

#12564 Wed, 08 Nov 06 08:46 PM

Señor Helicóptero wrote:

In the case of ‘Preferir’: The reason it becomes ‘prefiero’ and not ‘priefero’ is that the letter that changes is always in the syllable that you would stress when pronouncing it.

Hope this helps!

Thank you, but now I'm somewhat wondering about the stressing of the word. I understand that the word ends with a vowel, but I don't see why the world is particularly stressed on the 'ie' section. My book says this about word stress:

If words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the last syllable, they must carry an accent mark on the stressed syllable.

When I'm thinking about stressing 'preferir' would I want to look at the verb itself or the modifiied verb, prefiero?

I don't understand why perfiero is stressed on the 'ie.' I assume there is a rule for this or perhaps a way of knowing which section of the verb to stress? And, if I understand this correctly, are these the syllables of prefiero? Pre-fi-e-ro

I don't see how 'ie' is a syllable in itself.

Anonymous

Ghost Writer

#12565 Wed, 08 Nov 06 08:46 PM

Señor Helicóptero wrote:

In the case of ‘Preferir’: The reason it becomes ‘prefiero’ and not ‘priefero’ is that the letter that changes is always in the syllable that you would stress when pronouncing it.
Hope this helps!

If words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the last syllable, they must carry an accent mark on the stressed syllable.

When I'm thinking about stressing 'preferir' would I want to look at the verb itself or the modifiied verb, prefiero?

I don't see how 'ie' is a syllable in itself.

Ghost Writer

Señor Helicóptero

#12575 Thu, 09 Nov 06 01:21 AM

Ghost Writer
Thank you, but now I'm somewhat wondering about the stressing of the word. I understand that the word ends with a vowel, but I don't see why the world is particularly stressed on the 'ie' section. My book says this about word stress:
If words that end in n, s, or a vowel are stressed on the last syllable, they must carry an accent mark on the stressed syllable.
When I'm thinking about stressing 'preferir' would I want to look at the verb itself or the modifiied verb, prefiero?
I don't understand why perfiero is stressed on the 'ie.' I assume there is a rule for this or perhaps a way of knowing which section of the verb to stress? And, if I understand this correctly, are these the syllables of prefiero? Pre-fi-e-ro
I don't see how 'ie' is a syllable in itself.

That rule about n, s, or a vowel means that any word that doesn't end in an n, s, or a vowel is automatically stressed on the last syllable. eg. Preferir. Any word that does is stressed on the syllable before last. eg. Prefiero. If a word ends in an n, s, or a vowel and should be stressed on that syllable; it will have an accent to indicate that. eg. Preferí or Prefería. (You will notice that all the words ending in ión have an accent over the o because they all end with an n but are all pronounced with the stress on the last syllable).

Remember, an accent over any letter in a word means that you must stress that syllable, regardless of what letter the word ends in, eg. históricamente or fácil.

Combinations of vowels like ie, au, ei, etc. are diphthongs. Their sounds blend together to form one syllable.

One of the great things about Spanish is that there are rules for pronunciation (unlike English) so once you get to grips with them you can pronounce any word correctly.

Here's a good guide to pronunciation that includes the diphthongs: [link]

¡Buena suerte!

Señor Helicóptero

Ignatius

#12588 Thu, 09 Nov 06 12:37 PM

I was taught that SOME verbs have stem changes. Where the stem of a verb changes, it's USUALLY in the following way

1) if the stress is on an e this becomes ie
2) if the stress is on an o this becomes ue

ie:

poder - stress is on er - not on stem - no change

puede - stress is on the o in poder so it "splits" and becomes ue

podré - stress is on the é - not the stem - so no split

entender - stress is on er - not on stem - no change

entiende - stress is on the 2nd e in entender so it "splits" and becomes ie

entenderé - stress is on the é - not the stem - so no split

This rule works in most cases - you just need to remember which verbs have stem changes. For example:

comprender does NOT have a stem change therfore comprende is correct in this case, NOT compriende

Hope this helps

Ignatius

Joined on 15-05-2006

Usuario Principiante (43)

Hola! I'd be happy for you to correct me. Thanks