Spelling-Change Verbs in the Present
Practice the orthographic changes in -cer, -cir, -uir, and -iar/-uar verbs in the Spanish present tense.
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Questions Covered in This Set
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What happens to the yo form of verbs ending in vowel + cer/cir?
It takes -zco: conocer → conozco, producir → produzco, traducir → traduzco.
conocer — yo form?
conozco (conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocéis, conocen)
What if -cer/-cir follows a consonant?
The yo form takes -zo: vencer → venzo, convencer → convenzo, ejercer → ejerzo, esparcir → esparzo.
Conjugate construir in the present tense.
construyo, construyes, construye, construimos, construís, construyen — y inserted except nosotros/vosotros.
Why don't -guir verbs insert a y?
The u is silent, so no y is added; instead they drop the u before o: seguir → sigo, distinguir → distingo.
Conjugate enviar in the present tense.
envío, envías, envía, enviamos, enviáis, envían — accented í in the boot.
Conjugate continuar in the present tense.
continúo, continúas, continúa, continuamos, continuáis, continúan
Which common -iar/-uar verbs do NOT take an accent?
Estudiar, cambiar, limpiar, anunciar, averiguar → estudio, cambio, averiguo (diphthong kept).
What are reunir and prohibir in the yo form?
reúno and prohíbo — they break the diphthong with an accent (but reunimos, prohibimos).
Why is the yo form so important downstream?
The present subjunctive and usted/ustedes/negative-tú commands are built from the yo stem: conozco → conozca, construyo → construya, envío → envíe.
