Stem-Changing Verbs & Body Parts in Spanish

On Tuesday, April 30^th you will have a Quiz on the "Verbo Pensar" and other -AR Stem-Changing Verbs (only the Present Tense of Stem-Changing verbs E:EI that end in -AR, like cerrar, empezar, comenzar, calentar, pensar). The Quiz will also include the 15 vocabulary words learned in class (body parts in Spanish) - "Las Partes del Cuerpo."

Vocabulary words: cuerpo, cabeza, pelo, cara, ojo(s), nariz, boca, diente(s), oreja(s), cuello, brazo(s), mano(s), dedo(s), pierna(s), pie(s). Learn the definite and indefinite articles that go with these vocabulary words.

Test: On Wednesday, May 8^th you will have a Test on the Quiz material (check top paragraph) and other Stem-Changing Verbs E:EI (verbs ending in -ER and -IR, like querer, encender, perder, entender, preferir, sentir, mentir). You MUST know the meaning of these verbs! Also Textbook page 238 (Demonstrative Adjectives). Check: Adjetivos Demostrativos (click this link). See examples below - at the end.

Please review the following handouts: G&V  pages 75 (Verbo Pensar), 76, 77, 79; Textbook pages 231, 232 and 233 (Exercises No. 10, 11 and 13); Workbook pages 104, 105, 162 and 164. You can review Sr. Jordan's video: Verbos E:EI (click link) or find the video under "Fave" Links on the right. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Mrs. Feld.

You must review (and memorize) the endings of "Verbos -AR, -ER and -IR" to be able to properly conjugate the Stem-Changing Verbs mentioned above. 

Remember that the endings of -AR verbs start with "a" for "nosotros" (amos), the endings of -ER verbs start with "e" for "nosotros" (emos), and the endings of -IR verbs start with "i" for "nosotros" (imos). This is a good way to remember the endings for "nosotros." Notice that for "vosotros" is a little different, but you can follow the same rule - the only difference is that for "Verbos -IR" the ending is "ís" (just two letters). 

Practice conjugating ALL the stem-changing verbs mentioned above, by yourself, to do well on the test. Remember: for "nosotros" and "vosotros" you do not change the E to IE, you only change it for all the other persons (yo, tú, él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, ustedes). Another rule I mentioned in class to remember is: that in stem-changing verbs with two syllables only the first "e" changes to "ie" (i.e. pensar, querer, cerrar, sentir), and in stem-changing verbs with three syllables only the second "e" changes to "ie" - in a verb with three syllables and more than two "e's" (i.e. entender, empezar, encender). In a verb like "comenzar" it's easy to know that it's only the "e" that changes to "ie" for all the persons except "nosotros" and "vosotros."

Class Review

To ask "What are you thinking?" or "What are you thinking about?" in Spanish, you use the "gerund" - pensando: ¿Qué estás pensando? or ¿En qué estás pensando? Possible answers: Estoy pensando en el examen de español, estoy pensando en la tarea de inglés. Practice answering these questions in Spanish.

 To ask "Whom are you thinking of?" - you can ask ¿En quién estás pensando? Possible responses: Estoy pensando en mi novio, estoy pensando en mis abuelos, estoy pensando en mi familia, estoy pensando en ... (person or persons). Practice answering these questions in Spanish.

Other ways of asking the same questions using the present tense of the Verbo Pensar are as follows: ¿Qué piensas? ¿Qué piensa usted? ¿En qué piensas? ¿En quién piensas? (Pienso en mi familia). Other examples are: ¿Qué piensas hacer? ¿Qué piensas hacer el sábado? Possible answers: Pienso ir al cine, pienso ir de paseo al parque Pennypack, pienso ir al concierto de Justin Biever, pienso estudiar para el examen de español, etc. Come up with other examples, for practice. (Check your handouts!)

If you ask ¿Qué piensas de la clase de música? you are asking "What do you think about the Music class?" What do you think about the Spanish teacher? - ¿Qué piensas de la profesora de español? etc. When using ¿Qué piensas de...?  you are asking someone's opinion on something or someone. "When pensar is combined with de you are asking for an opinion." Your response could be: ¡Pienso que es excelente!

Other examples with ¿Qué piensas de...? and possible responses: ¿Qué piensas de Laura? Laura es una chica muy buena, Laura es muy bonita, Laura es muy simpática, ella es muy divertida, etc. ¿Qué piensas de Ramón? Ramón es muy guapo, él es muy cómico, él es muy loco, ¡él es pura vida!(the Costa Rican expression for "cool").

If you want to respond "I'm thinking about going shopping" or "I think about going shopping" you could say "Estoy pensando ir de compras," or "Pienso ir de compras." When pensar is accompanied by another verb (an infinitive) you do not add "en" or "que." Anytime you want to respond: pienso ir, pienso hacer, pienso comprar, pienso caminar, pienso comer, pienso ayudar, pienso viajar, pienso ver, pienso tener, etc. you DO NOT add "en" or "que" to your response!

Practice - Mention the Parts of the Body in Spanish that you learned in class (there are a few you didn't learn yet):

 Add: cabeza, cara, dientes, cuello, cuerpo (lots of "C" words!). Learn the definite and indefinite articles that go with these vocabulary words. Extra words: hombro(s) - shoulder(s), rodilla(s) - knee(s), codo(s) - elbow(s).

Demonstrative Adjectives (examples): 

-  este libro (this book). Use "este" with a masculine-singular noun.

-  estos libros (these books). Use "estos" with a masculine-plural noun.

-  esta pluma (this pen). Use "esta" with a feminine-singular noun.

-  estas plumas (these pens). Use "estas" with a feminine-plural noun.

-  ese libro (that book). Use "ese" with a masculine-singular noun.

-  esos libros (those books). Use "esos" with a masculine-plural noun.

-  esa pluma (that pen). Use "esa" with a feminine-singular noun.

-  esas plumas (those pens). Use "esas" with a feminine-plural noun.

-  aquel libro (that book over there). Use "aquel" with a masculine-singular noun.

-  aquellos libros (those books over there). Uses "aquellos" with a masculine-plural noun.

-  aquella pluma (that pen over there). Use "aquella" with a feminine-singular noun.

-  aquellas plumas (those pens over there). Use "aquellas" with a feminine-plural noun.

Please work on pages 108 and 109 of your Workbook to review the demonstrative adjectives.

Also check: Demonstrative Adjectives1 and Demonstrative Adjectives2.