Lesson 16: Empezar, more verb softening, dormir, encontrar and mostrar

Here we'll cover more verbs that change slightly to soften themselves when comparing the 'to form' and I/you/he/she/it/they forms.

So as a recap the 'e' in the to form that we emphasize when speaking is often split to 'ie' for other forms

Empezar - to start

So as a recap the 'e' in the to form that we emphasize when speaking is often split to 'ie' for other forms

But, if you can, before your eyes drift downwards to the table below - turn away from the screen and try to create all the forms yourself because you know how to do this using the methods covered in previous lessons.

Spanish	English
Empezar	to start
Empiezo	I start
Empieza	He starts
Empiezan	They start
Empiezas	You start
¿Cuándo empiezas?	When are you starting?

Now there is another verb which means "To Start" - 'Comenzar'

Spanish	English
Comenzar	to commence / to start

And it would be nicer if this was the verb that was used all the time because its easier to remember (from "Commence" in English) and the 'e' doesn't split.

But as we saw with 'intendar' and 'comprendar' which both mean "to understand" it is the not-so-english form that is in more common use. Its important to be aware of both because you are likely to hear both but the ones you will use more comonly are 'intendar' (for "to understand") and 'empezar' (for "to understand").

More verb softening

Another way verbs soften is when the accent is on an 'o' and this causes the 'o' to split into 'ue'.

We've actually seen this already in 'puedo' ("I can") because the to form is 'poder'.

Spanish	English
Poder	to be able to

We mentioned earlier one way to remember "to be able to" is to think of the word "Power" and in the to form ('Poder') we can see that relationship better.

And in fact in Spanish 'el poder' actually means "The Power".

Spanish	English
El poder	the power

There is an important point here. Just because a word ends in 'ar', 'er' or 'ir' doesn't mean it is always a verb. With 'el poder' we can tell it is a noun and not a verb because it has 'el' (or 'la' for feminine words) in front of it.

This verb softening actually happens with many words when they are transferred between English and Spanish.

Spanish	English
Puerto	Port
Puerto Rico	Rich Port
Fuerza	Force
Escuela	School
Cuerpo	Corpse (body)
Nuevo	New

Other connections are more distant. In English we have "Population" and from that we get 'Pueblo' which means "a people" but is more usually used to say "a village" or "a town".

Spanish	English
Pueblo	A people / village

And here is a really fun one to know - "Mortgage" actually means "Death Pact" - and from this "Mort" we can get the Spanish for both "to die" and "death" when splitting the 'o' to 'ue'.

Spanish	English
La muerte	The death
Muerto	Dead

Describing words

This would be a good moment to take some time out and just explaining describing words like "Dead". The ends of these words changes depending on what they are describing.

Spanish	English
Muerto	Dead (for a male singular word)
Muerta	Dead (for a female singular word)
Muertos	Dead (for a male plural word)
Muertas	Dead (for a male plural word)

So if we were to describe a man has "Dead" we would use 'muerto' but if it was a group of mean we would use 'muertos'. We can't see the whole sentence yet because we haven't covered the verb "to be" .. but its not far off!

It's just important at the moment to be aware of these differences because you may have already seen or heard them and be a bit puzzled as to if they are different words with different meanings.

Verb softening only happens in the present tense

Dormir - to sleep

'Dormir' is quite an easy verb to remember if we think of the English word "Dormitory" - and now you know where that word came from!

OK - let's have a look at some more verbs that split. If you know 'dormir' and you know that it splits (which you do now because I've just said it!) you should be able to work out all the forms of the verb before looking at the table below by using the methods covered in earlier lessons.

Spanish	English
Dormir	to sleep
Duermo	I sleep
Me duermo	I fall asleep

This last one, 'Me duermo' is also often used by people to say they are bored - "I'm falling asleep".

Spanish	English
Duerme	He sleeps
Duermen	They sleep

Encontrar - to find

'Encontrar' is a bit hazy in meaning when it come to translation. It can mean "to find" but it can also mean "to meet" but only in terms of "Yesterday I ran into" or "It's wierd, every time I'm in the park I meet Suza". In other words as its more obvious English counterpart - "to encounter".

We'll stick with "find" here but you might come across it used in other contexts as well.

Now we won't put any examples here. All you need to know is that the 'o' splits and you can go and check if you have worked out all the forms correctly using Google Translate!

We also have a noun here as well

Spanish	English
Un encuentro	An encounter
Encuentro	I encounter / find

Yes, we'll get to say "of the third kind" shortly ;)!

Mostrar - to show

We saw in an earlier lesson that 'demostrar' is "to demonstrate" and from that we got 'mostrar' which means "to show". Yes this is another one where the 'o' splits.

Spanish	English
Mostrar	To show
Muestro	I show
Muestra	He shows
Una muestra	A sample

There is no rule or method here by the way. It just so happens that 'muestra' can be used in these two different ways and have very different meanings. Its something to watch out for and to be aware that when you see a word you also have to see its context to know its real meaning.

This is not unique to Spanish. In English we might use "motor" to describe an engine or a car or how someone is performing - "You are motoring".

Lesson 17: Colgar, Tomar, Cerrar and the we form of verbs