Lesson 26: Stem-Changing Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

26.1 Stem-Changing Verbs

This group of verbs will look familiar. These are all stem-changing verbs in the present indicative, and they, as you could probably guess, will change their stems a bit here. But we need to be alert: it's the way they change.

Some good news, though, is that the subjunctive endings you just learned are still in play.

Even more good news: these changes are predictable. -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs where E→IE and O→UE follow the rules we learned above for most of the forms but are going to have a unique stem in the nosotros and vosotros forms.

Let's take a look. We have an example of each type mentioned above:

CERRAR
(to close)
in the Present Subjunctive
yo
cierre
cierres
él, ella, usted
cierre
nosotros, nosotras
cerremos
vosotros, vosotras
cerréis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
cierren
Spanish verb conjugation chart for cerrar (to close) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
SOÑAR
(to dream)
in the Present Subjunctive
yo
sueñe
sueñes
él, ella, usted
sueñe
nosotros, nosotras
soñemos
vosotros, vosotras
soñéis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
sueñen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for soñar (to dream) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
DORMIR
(to sleep)
in the Present Subjunctive
yo
duerma
duermas
él, ella, usted
duerma
nosotros, nosotras
durmamos
vosotros, vosotras
durmáis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
duerman
Spanish verb conjugation chart for dormir (to sleep) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
✦  Note  ✦

Key Pattern to Remember

As you can see, starting with the yo form correctly produces the conjugated forms for most, but for these groups the nosotros and vosotros forms do not take the stem change.

Is your head spinning? That's OK! Don't worry too much about the formula, just practice conjugating these with VerbMaster's intelligent tutoring system and they'll be second nature soon enough.

Practice Time!

Master these verb conjugations from Lesson 26

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cerrar
present subjunctive
soñar
present subjunctive
dormir
present subjunctive