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Preterite of "-e#ir" verbs: the 3rd person e>i change almost seems to be the norm

David M.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Preterite of "-e#ir" verbs: the 3rd person e>i change almost seems to be the norm


Hola Ana, Silvia, e Inma -

In your lesson Conjugate stem-changing-ir verbs (e > i) in the preterite tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Indefinido) - I am wondering if it might be worth mentioning that the guideline applies to the majority of verbs ending with "-e#ir" - because most of them seem to change the 'e' to 'i' in the 3rd person "pretérito indefinido" [where the # symbol denotes a consonant, or two consonants together, or even no consonant as with 'reír'] >

> i.e., almost all of them follow the pattern "servir > sirvió, sirvieron"...

... and seguir > siguió, siguieron [note that 'gu' is effectively just a consonant with its silent u]

I have come across only a few exceptions to that^ rule:

namely, the three "-cer.nir" verbs: discernir, concernir, cernir(se)... the three "-ergir" ones: sumergir, convergir, divergir... and hendir - [e.g., the third person preterite becomes él discer.nió - not discirnió].

There are also one or two [?] defective verbs which behave like that^, for example 'ellos agredieron' (they attacked), not 'agridieron'.

Saludos, David Mc


This question relates to:Spanish lesson "Conjugate stem-changing-ir verbs (e > i) in the preterite tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Indefinido)"
Asked 11 months ago
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InmaKwiziq Head of Spanish, Native Spanish TeacherCorrect answer

Hola David

Thanks for your very interesting insight into this specific irregularity. 

I went back to the lesson to see whether it would benefit from this addition that you're suggesting, but I came to the conclusion that as it is an A1 topic and the fact that it is only for -ir verbs and verbs that also have a previous -e in the stem is already explicit in the lesson, the addition may be unnecessary at this level. Bear in mind that the exceptions are involving verbs that are a lot more advanced: discernir, agredir, concernir... 

But it's a very interesting comment so I'm sure lots of users will benefit from reading it, of course. 

Gracias y un saludo.

Inma

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David M. asked:

Preterite of "-e#ir" verbs: the 3rd person e>i change almost seems to be the norm


Hola Ana, Silvia, e Inma -

In your lesson Conjugate stem-changing-ir verbs (e > i) in the preterite tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Indefinido) - I am wondering if it might be worth mentioning that the guideline applies to the majority of verbs ending with "-e#ir" - because most of them seem to change the 'e' to 'i' in the 3rd person "pretérito indefinido" [where the # symbol denotes a consonant, or two consonants together, or even no consonant as with 'reír'] >

> i.e., almost all of them follow the pattern "servir > sirvió, sirvieron"...

... and seguir > siguió, siguieron [note that 'gu' is effectively just a consonant with its silent u]

I have come across only a few exceptions to that^ rule:

namely, the three "-cer.nir" verbs: discernir, concernir, cernir(se)... the three "-ergir" ones: sumergir, convergir, divergir... and hendir - [e.g., the third person preterite becomes él discer.nió - not discirnió].

There are also one or two [?] defective verbs which behave like that^, for example 'ellos agredieron' (they attacked), not 'agridieron'.

Saludos, David Mc


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