E to I Stem-changing Verbs in Spanish (with Examples)

Spanish has a fair amount of irregular verbs, and one of the most infamous of these categories is the e to i stem-changers. 

It may sound complicated, but don’t worry. They actually follow some basic patterns, plus many of these verbs tend to be common and useful—so you’ll be able to put this new knowledge to good use right away.

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How E to I Stem-changing Verbs Work

In short, e to i stem changing verbs work like this: in the yo, tú, él/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms, the “e” in the stem changes to an “i.”

This type of stem change only occurs with –ir verbs.

Let’s look at the present tense conjugation of pedir (to ask for, request, order), which is one of the most common e to i stem changing verbs in Spanish: 

yo pido
tú pides   
él/ella/ud. pide
nosotros pedimos
vosotros pedís
ellos/ellas/uds. piden

Notice that the nosotros and vosotros forms retain the original “e” of the stem, while the other stems change.

Here are some pedir stem changes in example sentences:

Sara pide un pisco. — Sara is ordering a pisco.

Yo pido un pisco sour. — I’m ordering a pisco sour.

Tú pides un vino tinto de la zona de Panquehue. — You’re ordering red wine from the Panquehue region.

Most Common E to I Stem-changing Verbs

Pedir (to ask for, request, order) 

pido
pides   
pide
pedimos
pedís
piden

Decir (to say, to tell) — note that this verb is also irregular in some forms such as yo

digo
dices
dice
decimos
decís
dicen

Seguir (to follow, to continue) — note that in the yo form, there’s an additional spelling change

sigo
sigues
sigue
seguimos
seguís
siguen

Servir (to serve)

sirvo
sirves
sirve
servimos
servís
sirven

Repetir (to repeat)

repito
repites
repite
repetimos
repetís
repiten

Vestir (to dress)

visto
vistes
viste
vestimos
vestís
visten

Freír (to fry)

frío
fríes
fríe
freímos
freís
fríen

Here are some more common e to i stem-changing verbs to know that follow this pattern. Click on any one to see the conjugations. 

• concebir (to conceive)
• corregir (to correct)
• elegir (to elect)
• gemir (to groan)
• regir (to govern, to regulate)
• rendir (to perform, do well, yield)
• repetir (to repeat)
• teñir (to dye)

Practicing E to I Stem-changing Spanish Verbs

Understand how e to i stem-changing conjugations work? Great! 

But actually remembering these and using them in your speech and writing is another story. Here are some suggestions for practicing so that you can get to the point where these conjugations just seem normal.

• Quiz yourself. Use online quizzes like this one to check your ability to come up with the correct conjugation.
• Ask questions verbally. Make sure that you can then apply these patterns in your own speech, too. With an online language exchange partner, try out your sentences about yourself and then ask your partner about himself or herself (tú is going to have a stem change!).

With a little bit of practice, you should be on to creating sentences with these e to i stem-changing verbs. Pretty soon, you’ll just know which ones need it because they’re sound weird without it.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

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