Unit 14 · Tener, Gustar and Stem Changes

Picture the coach asking, "¿Quieres sopa?" (Do you want soup?). The verb is querer (to want). Drop the -er ending and you have the stem: quer-. In regular verbs, the stem never moves. Hablar gives habl-, and every form keeps it: hablo, hablas, habla. You just swap the endings.

Querer is different. Watch it in the present tense: quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren. In four forms, the e of quer- turned into ie. The endings are normal -er endings. Only the stem vowel changed. A verb that does this is called a stem-changing verb.

Why does this happen? Centuries ago, Latin short vowels that carried the stress split into two sounds in Spanish. So the change appears only where the stress falls on the stem. In queremos, the stress falls on -re-, the ending side, so the stem stays quer-. You do not need the history to use it, but it explains the pattern.

Write the six forms of querer in two columns, the way a conjugation chart looks. Singular on the left: quiero, quieres, quiere. Plural on the right: queremos, queréis, quieren. Now draw a line around every form with ie. The line wraps the whole left column and dips down to catch quieren at the bottom right.

That outline looks like a boot, so teachers call these boot verbs. The top of the right column, nosotros and vosotros, sits outside the boot. Those two forms keep the infinitive’s stem: queremos, queréis. Every stem-changing verb in the present tense follows this same boot shape.

A common mistake is changing every form: "quieremos" instead of queremos. English speakers do this because the change feels like part of the verb. Remember that nosotros (we) lives outside the boot. Saying the forms aloud helps. You will hear that the stress in queremos is not on the stem.

Take cerrar (to close), an -ar boot verb. The stem is cerr-, and its e becomes ie inside the boot. Now add the normal -ar endings: cierro, cierras, cierra, cerramos, cerráis, cierran. The endings -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an are exactly the endings of hablar.

That means you already know half of every boot verb. For -er verbs like querer, use -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. For -ir verbs like dormir (to sleep), use -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -en: duermo, duermes, duerme, dormimos, dormís, duermen. The only new job is the stem.

Here is a safe two-step method. Step one: pick the ending from the subject, as you would for any regular verb. Step two: ask whether the form is inside the boot. If yes, change the stem vowel. If no, leave it. Students who try to memorize every form as a new word get lost. Students who use the two steps do not.

Imagine the team deciding when to leave. "¿A qué hora empieza el partido?" (What time does the game start?). The verb empezar (to begin) has the stem empez-. Inside the boot, e becomes ie: empiezo, empiezas, empieza, empezamos, empezáis, empiezan. Say each form aloud as you write it.

Pensar (to think) works the same way: pienso, piensas, piensa, pensamos, pensáis, piensan. So do cerrar, entender (to understand) and preferir (to prefer). "Prefiero la sopa" means I prefer the soup. When a verb has two e’s, like preferir, only the stressed one changes: pre-FIE-ro.

How do you know which verbs change? You cannot tell from spelling alone. Pensar changes, but llevar (to carry) does not: llevo, not "llievo". Dictionaries and glossaries mark boot verbs with the change in parentheses: pensar (ie). Learn each verb with its label, and the chart builds itself.

Back at the bleachers, a player asks, "¿Puedo irme?" (Can I leave?). The verb is poder (to be able to, can). The stem pod- turns into pued- inside the boot: puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden. The same boot, a different vowel pair. Say the forms aloud and listen for the ue.

Volver (to return) gives vuelvo, vuelves, vuelve, volvemos, volvéis, vuelven. Almorzar (to eat lunch) gives almuerzo, almuerzas, almuerza, almorzamos, almorzáis, almuerzan. Dormir, which you saw earlier, belongs here too. "¿A qué hora vuelves?" means What time are you coming back?

Poder is usually followed by an infinitive, just like can in English: "Puedo jugar" (I can play). Do not conjugate the second verb. A frequent error is "puedo juego", which doubles the conjugation. Only the first verb changes for the subject; the second stays in its -ar, -er or -ir form.

The team plays soccer, so they need jugar (to play a sport or game). Its stem jug- has a u, not an o, yet it follows the o→ue pattern: juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan. It is the only everyday verb that does this, so learn it on its own.

Spanish uses jugar a before the name of a sport or game in careful speech: "Juego al fútbol" (I play soccer). Al is a plus el. Many speakers, especially in Latin America, also say "Juego fútbol" without al. Both are used and understood. Just remember that tocar (to play an instrument) is a different verb: "Toco la guitarra."

English uses one word, play, for sports and music. Spanish splits them. A common mistake is "Juego el piano", which sounds like you are playing a game with the piano. Use jugar for sports and games, tocar for instruments and music. Say "Juego al fútbol y toco el piano" to practice both.

At the restaurant, Marisol says, "Pido el caldo" (I’m ordering the broth). The verb pedir (to ask for, order) has the stem ped-. Inside the boot, e becomes i, not ie: pido, pides, pide, pedimos, pedís, piden. This third pattern appears only in -ir verbs.

Servir (to serve) gives sirvo, sirves, sirve, servimos, servís, sirven. Repetir (to repeat) gives repito, repites, repite, repetimos, repetís, repiten. Your teacher may say "Repitan, por favor" (Repeat, please). You now know where that i comes from.

Pedir and preguntar both translate as ask, but they are not the same. Pedir means to ask FOR something: "Pido agua" (I ask for water). Preguntar means to ask a question: "Pregunto la hora" (I ask the time). Mixing them up is one of the most common errors English speakers make.

The coach counts players: "Tengo veinte jugadores" (I have twenty players). Tener (to have) is one of the most used verbs in Spanish. It looks like a boot verb: tienes, tiene, tienen change e to ie, and tenemos, tenéis stay outside. You will use it in almost every conversation.

The twist is yo. Instead of "tieno", Spanish says tengo, with a g. A few other verbs share this yo-go pattern, such as venir (to come): vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen. So tener and venir are boot verbs with a special yo form. "Vengo a las seis" means I’m coming at six.

A mistake many learners make is "yo tiengo", mixing the two changes. Keep them separate. Yo gets the g and no ie: tengo. Tú, él, ellos get ie and no g: tienes, tiene, tienen. Nosotros and vosotros get neither: tenemos, tenéis. Practice all six forms until they sound natural.

Back in the rain, nobody says "estoy frío". They say "Tengo frío", literally I have cold. Spanish treats hunger, thirst, cold and heat as things you have. Tener hambre (to be hungry), tener sed (to be thirsty), tener frío (to be cold) and tener calor (to be hot).

Because hambre and sed are nouns, you make them stronger with mucho or mucha, not muy. Hambre is feminine, so it is "tengo mucha hambre" (I’m very hungry). Frío and calor are masculine: "tengo mucho frío", "tengo mucho calor". "Tengo muy hambre" is a common learner error; muy goes with adjectives.

Be careful with estar. "Estoy frío" does not mean I feel cold. It sounds like your body is cold to the touch, like food left out. "Estoy caliente" can even have a romantic or embarrassing meaning in many places. To talk about how you feel, use tener.

On the dark bus ride home, Diego whispers, "Tengo miedo de los truenos" (I’m afraid of thunder). Tener miedo means to be afraid, and you add de before the thing you fear. The coach nods at Marisol’s plan to leave early. "Tienes razón" (You’re right). Tener razón means to be right.

More of the family: tener sueño (to be sleepy), tener suerte (to be lucky), tener prisa (to be in a hurry) and tener cuidado (to be careful). "¡Ten cuidado!" (Be careful!) is something you will hear from any abuela. Each one is tener plus a noun, conjugated for the subject.

Age belongs here too. "Tengo dieciséis años" means I am sixteen, literally I have sixteen years. English speakers often say "soy dieciséis", which sounds like I am the number sixteen. Always use tener with años. "¿Cuántos años tienes?" (How old are you?) is how you ask.

Picture Lucía’s grandmother tasting mole and smiling. In English, you would say She likes mole. The person is the subject, and mole is the object. Spanish flips it: "Le gusta el mole." The verb gustar means to be pleasing, and the mole is doing the pleasing.

Read it word by word. Le (to her) gusta (is pleasing) el mole (the mole). So the subject of the sentence is el mole, the thing liked. The person who likes it appears as a small word before the verb that means to me, to you, to her. That word is called an indirect object pronoun.

This is why "Yo gusto el mole" is wrong, even though it copies English word order. Yo gusto would mean I am pleasing. The right sentence is "Me gusta el mole" (Mole is pleasing to me, I like mole). Once you think of gustar as to be pleasing, the rest of the pattern makes sense.

Lucía writes "Me gustan los tamales" and "Me gusta el arroz." Why the n? Because the verb agrees with its subject, the thing liked. One rice: gusta. Many tamales: gustan. The person liking it never changes the verb ending. So the ending depends on what is liked, not on who likes it.

Activities work like one thing. When you like doing something, use gusta plus an infinitive: "Me gusta cocinar" (I like to cook). Even two activities stay singular: "Me gusta cocinar y bailar" (I like to cook and dance). Only plural nouns, like las canciones (the songs), take gustan.

The common mistake is choosing gustan because the PERSON is plural. "Nos gustan el pastel" is wrong, because el pastel is one thing: "Nos gusta el pastel" (We like the cake). Always look to the right of the verb, find the thing liked, and count it. Count it before you choose the ending.

Uncle Raúl does not like spicy food. In Spanish, no goes in front of the whole pronoun-plus-verb group: "No me gusta el picante" (I don’t like spicy food). Never split them. "Me no gusta" is a common error, because English puts not after the subject.

To ask, keep the same order and add question marks at both ends. "¿Te gusta el pozole?" (Do you like pozole?). You can also ask about someone else: "¿Le gustan las enchiladas?" (Does he like enchiladas?). There is no word for do in Spanish questions, so do not try to translate it.

Answer with the same pattern. "Sí, me gusta" or "No, no me gusta." Notice the double no. The first one answers the question. The second one makes the verb negative. That double no sounds strange to English ears but is perfectly correct Spanish. Practice both answers aloud with a partner.

Lucía’s notebook needs a line for everyone. For herself: me gusta. For her cousin: te gusta. For Abuela: le gusta. For herself and Tomás: nos gusta. For the twins: les gusta. These are the indirect object pronouns, and they tell who finds the thing pleasing.

Here is the full set: me (to me), te (to you, informal), le (to him, to her, to you formal), nos (to us), os (to you all, informal in Spain), les (to them, to you all). Notice that le and les cover several people each. Le can mean him, her or usted.

The verb stays gusta or gustan no matter which pronoun you use. "Les gusta el arroz" (They like rice) and "Me gusta el arroz" (I like rice) share the same verb, because the rice is the subject in both. Only the pronoun changes. Only the small pronoun in front changes.

"Le gusta el mole" could mean he, she or you (usted) likes mole. To make it clear, add a plus the person at the start: "A Abuela le gusta el mole." You can use a name, a noun or a pronoun: a ella, a él, a usted, a mis tíos. This a phrase usually comes first in the sentence.

The pronouns after a are a mí (with an accent), a ti (no accent), a él, a ella, a usted, a nosotros, a vosotros, a ellos, a ellas, a ustedes. They add emphasis or contrast: "A mí me gusta el pozole, pero a ti te gusta el menudo" (I like pozole, but you like menudo).

Here is the catch: the a phrase is added, not swapped. You still need the small pronoun. "A mí gusta" is wrong; it must be "A mí me gusta." Also, mí needs its accent. Without it, mi means my, as in mi casa. That accent is the whole difference. Check both every time you write a mí.

Tomás says, "Me gusta el pastel de tres leches." Lucía agrees: "A mí también" (Me too). Because gustar is not a yo verb, you cannot say "yo también" here in careful Spanish. The answer matches the a mí form of the sentence. "Yo también" is heard in casual speech, but a mí también matches the grammar.

When the first sentence is negative, the agreement changes. "No me gusta la cebolla." "A mí tampoco" (Me neither). Tampoco means neither or not either. Answering a negative with también is a common mistake. It would mean you DO like it, which is the opposite of agreeing.

To disagree, flip it. If someone says "Me gusta el menudo" and you don’t, answer "A mí no." If someone says "No me gusta el menudo" and you do, answer "A mí sí." Four little answers cover every case: también, tampoco, no and sí. Practice them with a partner until they feel automatic.

Abuela does more than like mole. "Le encanta el mole" (She loves mole). Encantar (to delight, to love a thing) follows the same pattern as gustar. The thing loved is the subject: encanta for one thing or an activity, encantan for many. "Me encantan los tamales" means I love tamales.

Because encantar already means very much, do not add mucho. "Me encanta mucho" is a learner habit carried over from me gusta mucho. Native speakers usually just say me encanta. Also, for people you love, use querer: "Quiero a mi abuela" (I love my grandmother).

Here is a scale from low to high. "No me gusta" (I don’t like it), "Me gusta" (I like it), "Me gusta mucho" (I like it a lot), "Me encanta" (I love it). Choosing the right step makes your Spanish sound more natural and more precise. Try placing your own favorite foods on this scale.

The twins do not like onion. More precisely, "Les molesta la cebolla" (The onion bothers them). Molestar (to bother) puts the annoying thing first as the subject. Loud music, homework, a long line: whatever bothers you is the subject of molestar. "Me molesta el tráfico" means traffic bothers me.

Interesar (to interest) works the same way. "Me interesa la historia de México" (Mexican history interests me). "¿Te interesan los deportes?" (Are you interested in sports?). English also uses this order: History interests me. That can make interesar feel easier than gustar.

Watch the plural. "Me molestan los mosquitos" (Mosquitoes bother me) takes the n because los mosquitos is plural. And watch the meaning of molestar. It means to bother or annoy, not the English word molest. False friends like this can cause real embarrassment.

At the end of the story, Tomás says, "Nos falta el postre" (We’re missing dessert). Faltar (to be missing, to lack) follows the gustar pattern. Word by word, it says Dessert is missing to us. The missing thing is the subject. It is the same pattern with a new meaning.

One thing: falta. More than one: faltan. "Me faltan dos platos" (I’m missing two plates, I need two more plates). "¿Qué te falta?" (What do you need? What are you missing?). You will hear this at stores, in kitchens and when a teacher counts papers. Faltar is everywhere.

Faltar also shows how much remains. "Faltan diez minutos" (There are ten minutes left) uses no pronoun at all. Minutes are the subject. English speakers often reach for necesitar, which is fine, but faltar is what native speakers use for something missing from a set.

At the party, cousins who haven’t met in a year catch up. "¿Qué te gusta hacer?" (What do you like to do?). This question is the heart of every getting-to-know-you conversation. Hacer means to do, and it stays an infinitive after gusta. "¿Qué le gusta hacer?" is the polite version.

Answers use the verbs from this chapter with infinitives: "Me encanta dibujar" (I love to draw). "Me interesa aprender a cocinar" (I’m interested in learning to cook). You can also add nouns: "Me gusta la música de banda" (I like banda music). Remember: infinitives take the singular verb.

Keep the conversation going by asking back. "¿Y a ti?" (And you?) turns any statement into a question. For an adult, use usted: "¿Y a usted, tía, qué le gusta hacer?" (And you, Aunt, what do you like to do?). The le shows respect, just as usted does.