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Spanish irregular verbs

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Spanish verbs are a complex area of Spanish grammar, with many combinations of tenses, aspects and moods (up to fifty conjugated forms per verb). Although conjugation rules are relatively straightforward, a large number of verbs are irregular. Among these, some fall into more-or-less defined deviant patterns, whereas others are uniquely irregular. This article summarizes the common irregular patterns.

As in all Romance languages, many irregularities in Spanish verbs can be retraced to Latin grammar.

Orthographic changes

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Due to the rules of Spanish orthography, some predictable changes are needed to keep the same consonant sound before a or o and e or i, but these are not usually considered irregularities. The following examples use the first person plural of the present subjunctive:

Other predictable changes involve stress marks, iy alternations and i-dropping, some of which are sometimes considered as irregularities. These examples are several forms of otherwise regular preterites:

Stem-vowel changes

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There are two kinds of changes that can affect stem vowels of some Spanish verbs: diphthongization and vowel raising. Both changes affect -e- or -o- in the last (or only) syllable of a verb stem. Diphthongization changes -e- to -ie-, and -o- to -ue-. Vowel raising changes the mid vowels -e- and -o- to the corresponding high vowels: -i- and -u- respectively. Some verbs, in their various forms, can exhibit both kinds of changes (e.g. sentir, siente, sintió (e-ie-i); dormir, duerme, durmió) (o-ue-u).

Diphthongization

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The identities of verbs that diphthongize -e- to -ie- and -o- to -ue- are not marked and must be learned individually. In a diphthongizing verb, the change occurs when the stem syllable is stressed, which in effect happens only in the singular persons and third-person plural of the present tense and in the imperative. In the other forms, including the infinitive, are stressed on their endings, not their stems. Exceptionally, the -u- of jugar (u-ue -gar, -jugar) and the -i- of adquirir and inquirir (i-ie) also are subject to diphthongization (juega, etc.; adquiere, etc.).

Word-initially, *ie- is written ye- (errar > yerro) (e-ie > ye) and *ue- is written hue- (oler > huele) (o-ue > hue, oler). Also, the -ue- diphthong is written -üe- after g, with the diaeresis to indicate that the letter is not silent (avergonzarse > me avergüenzo) (reflexive, go-güe -zar).

The following examples show that all three conjugations (-ar, -er, and -ir verbs) include some diphthongizing verbs (only contrasting examples are shown):

Present indicative

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Verb yo vos él/ ella; usted nosotr(os/as) vosotr(os/as) ell(os/as); ustedes
pensar pienso piensas pensás piensa pensamos pensáis piensan
contar cuento cuentas contás cuenta contamos contáis cuentan
perder pierdo pierdes perdés pierde perdemos perdéis pierden
moler muelo mueles molés muele molemos moléis muelen
oler huelo hueles olés huele olemos oléis huelen
sentir siento sientes sentís siente sentimos sentís sienten
dormir duermo duermes dormís duerme dormimos dormís duermen

Present subjunctive

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Verb yo vos* él/ella; usted nosotr(os/as) vosotr(os/as) ell(os/as); ustedes
pensar piense pienses pienses / pensés piense pensemos penséis piensen
contar cuente cuentes cuentes / contés cuente contemos contéis cuenten
perder pierda pierdas pierdas / perdás pierda perdamos perdáis pierdan
moler muela muelas muelas / molás muela molamos moláis muelan
oler huela huelas huelas / olás huela olamos oláis huelan
sentir sienta sientas sientas / sintás sienta sintamos sintáis sientan
dormir duerma duermas duermas / durmás duerma durmamos durmáis duerman

(*) In Central America pensés, contés, etc. are used,[2] but Spanish Royal Academy prescribes pienses, cuentes, etc., as in Rioplatense Spanish.

Imperative

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Verb vos vosotr(os/as)* usted nosotr(os/as)
pensar piensa pensá pensad piense pensemos
contar cuenta contá contad cuente contemos
perder pierde perdé perded pierda perdamos
moler muele mo moled muela molamos
oler huele o oled huela olamos
sentir siente sentí sentid sienta sintamos
dormir duerme dormí dormid duerma durmamos

(*) The imperative forms of vosotros are colloquially pronounced the same as the infinitive, with an /ɾ/. Until recently, spelling them as such was proscribed.

The verbs sentir and dormir also undergo vowel raising. Additional diphthongizing verbs include acordar(se) (o-ue), divertir(se) (e-ie), doler (o-ue), empezar (-zar e-ie, -ezar), encontrar (o-ue), entender (e-ie), llover (o-ue), morir (o-ue, -morir), mostrar (o-ue), mover (o-ue), poder (o-ue, -poder), probar (o-ue), querer (e-ie, -querer), recordar (o-ue), sentar(se) (e-ie-i), tener (e-ie, -tener, G-Verb), venir (e-ie, -venir, G-Verb), volar (o-ue), and volver (o-ue, -olver).

Many verbs with -e- or -o- in the root do not alternate. Common non-diphthongizing verbs include acercar(se), aprender, beber, ceder, coger², colar, comer, comprar, conocer, correr, creer, deber, dejar, entrar, esperar, importar, joder¹, lamentar, llegar, llevar, meter, parecer, perecer, poner, prometer, quedar, regresar, responder, robar, soportar, suceder, temer, tomar, among others. Less frequent verbs of this kind are often a source of mistakes for children learning to speak, and also for some adults:

  • rebosaryo *rebueso, él *rebuesa... instead of yo reboso, él rebosa...

Vowel raising

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Vowel raising appears only in -ir verbs, and in this group it affects dormir, morir, podrir (an alternative of the more common pudrir) and nearly all verbs which have -e- as their last stem vowel (e.g. sentir, repetir). Exceptions to that last rule include cernir and its derivatives, which are only diphthongizing.

Affected forms

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The forms that exhibit the change can be described negatively as those in which the stem vowel is not diphthongized and the ending does not contain stressed i[3] or the -ir- sequence. In other words, vowel raising affects the forms whose endings do not contain an i which is not part of a diphthong, taking into account that diphthongizing overrides vowel raising.

For diphthongizing verbs (e.g. sentir, dormir), the vowel-raising forms are:

  • the first-person and second-person plural of the present subjunctive (sintamos, sintáis, durmamos, durmáis);
  • the present active participle or gerund (sintiendo, durmiendo);
  • the third-person indicative past perfect (sintió, sintieron, durmió, durmieron);
  • all forms of the subjunctive imperfect past (sintiera/sintiese..., durmiera/durmiese...) and of the future subjunctive (sintiere..., durmiere...).

For non-diphthongizing verbs (e.g. pedir) it affects these same forms (pidamos, pidáis, pidiendo, pidió, pidieron, pidiera...), plus:

  • the singulars and third person plural of the present indicative (pido, pides, pide, piden);
  • the remaining forms of the present subjunctive (pida, pidas, pidan);
  • the form of the imperative (pide), but not the other forms

The forms which undergo neither diphthongizing nor vowel raising are:

  • the first-person and second-person plural of the present indicative (sentimos, sentís), because these forms have stressed i in their endings.
  • the infinitive (sentir), past participle (sentido), passt perfect indicative (sentía...) and the vos and vosotros forms of the imperative (sentí, sentid), for the same reason.
  • the future (sentiré...) and conditional (sentiría...), whose endings contain the -ir- sequence and derive from the infinitive.

Affected verbs

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Diphthongizing and vowel-raising verbs include:

The diphthongizing -er verb poder irregularly undergoes vowel raising in the gerund (pudiendo), but the first- and second-person plural of the present subjunctive are regular (podamos, podáis).

Vowel-raised but not diphthongizing verbs include:

  • those ending in -edir (medir, pedir, despedir...), -egir (corregir, elegir), and -etir (competir, repetir)
  • those ending in -eír (reír, sonreír, freír, desleír). Double i that would result is simplified (rieron, not *riieron nor *riyeron). The stressed i in contact with a/e/o must take an acute accent (río, ríe, ría) but monosyllabic forms of the preterite do not have it (though this was allowed until 2010).
  • those ending in -eñir (teñir, ceñir...). As usual, the unstressed i between ñ and a vowel is dropped (tiñendo, tiñó, tiñeron, tiñera...).
  • decir and derived verbs (bendecir, predecir...), in the forms that do not undergo other, overriding irregularities.
  • vestir and derived verbs.
  • embestir.
  • podrir. The affected forms are equal to those derived from the more usual infinitive pudrir, which is regular except in the past participle podrido.

The vowel-raising verb erguir is usually diphthongizing (with ye- forms such as yergo), but non-diphthongizing forms are valid but rare (irgo).

Diphthongs and hiatus

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Cambio vs. envío

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Diphthongs in the infinitive may be preserved throughout the conjugation or broken in the forms which are stressed on the stem, depending on whether the i or u in contact with a/e/o take the stress or not. The stressed vowel is marked bold in the examples: cambiar > cambio, but enviar > envío (requiring an acute accent to indicate the resulting hiatus). The Real Academia Española does not consider either behaviour as irregular, but illustrates each with six "regular" models, one for each possible diphthong in the infinitive: anunciar, averiguar, bailar, causar, peinar and adeudar for diphthong-keeping verbs and enviar, actuar, aislar, aunar, descafeinar and rehusar for diphthong-breaking ones. The presence of a silent h does not break a diphthong, so a written accent is needed anyway in rehúso.

All verbs ending in -guar are diphthong-keeping, as well as saciar, desairar, restaurar and reinar. Two diphthongs are kept in desahuciar > desahucio (again the -h- makes no difference), which thus follows both the anunciar and causar models.

Diphthong-breaking verbs include ahincar, aislar, aunar, aullar, maullar, aupar, aliar, vaciar, contrariar, evaluar, habituar, reunir. The verbs criar, fiar, guiar, liar and piar are also diphthong-breaking (crío, guíe), but when the stress falls on the endings the resulting forms are generally considered as monosyllables and thus written without accent: crie, fie, guiais, lieis.... In spite of that, the regular accentuation rules can also be used if they are pronounced as bisyllabic: crié, guiáis....

For the verbs licuar and adecuar both options are valid: adecuo or adecúo.

The ui diphthong in cuidar is kept throughout the conjugation despite the fact of the i getting the stress in forms such as cuido (written without stress mark).

Verbs ending in -oír and -uir

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All verbs ending in -uir (e.g. construir, disminuir, distribuir) add a medial -y- before all endings not starting with i: yo construyo, construyes, yo construya. Taking into account that these verbs also undergo the change of unstressed intervocalic i to y (see orthographic changes above), they have many forms containing y.

This also applies to the forms of oír and desoír that do not undergo the -ig- change: oyes, oye, oyen…

Some regular forms of fluir, fruir and huir are written without stress mark if considered monosyllabic, but may bear it if pronounced as bisyllabic: vosotros huis or huís (present), yo hui or huí (preterite).

The verb argüir loses the diaeresis before y: arguyo, arguyó… (gü-gu, -güir).

Other common irregular patterns

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Endings starting with o/a in er/ir verbs

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In er and ir verbs, the first person singular of the present indicative and the whole present subjunctive are the only forms whose endings start with o/a instead of e/i. These two different phonetic environments made Latin forms evolve differently in many verbs, leading to irregularities. Whenever the first person singular of the present indicative has an irregularity other than diphthongizing, but still ends in -o, the whole present subjunctive shares that same irregularity. For example:

  • caber: quepo, quepa... (-caber)
  • hacer: hago, haga... (-hacer, g-verb)
  • lucir: luzco, luzca... (c-zc, -cir)
  • ver: veo, vea...; prever: preveo, prevea... (-ver)

When the first person singular of the present indicative does not end in -o, the present subjunctive is also irregular, but in a different way:

  • ir: voy, vaya... (-ir, oy-verb)
  • haber: he, haya (-haber)
  • saber: , sepa... (-saber)
  • ser: soy, sea... (-ser, oy-verb)

G-verbs

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Before o (in the first person singular of the indicative present tense) and a (that is, in all persons of the present subjunctive), the so-called g-verbs (sometimes "go-yo verbs", "yo-go verbs", or simply "go verbs") add a medial -g- after l and n (also after s in asir), add -ig- when the root ends in a vowel, or substitute -c- for -g-. This change overrides diphthongization (tener, venir) but combines with vowel-raising (decir). Many of these verbs are also irregular in other ways. For example:

  • asir: yo asgo, tú ases... stem: as-
  • caer: yo caigo, tú caes... stem: ca-
  • decir: yo digo, tú dices... stem: dec/dez- (e-i alternation)
  • -facer, as in satisfacer: yo satisfago, tú satisfaces… stem: satisfac-/ satisfaz-
  • hacer: yo hago, tú haces... stem: hac/haz-
  • oír: yo oigo, tú oyes... stem: o-
  • poner: yo pongo, tú pones... stem: pon-
  • salir: yo salgo, tú sales... stem: sal- (-salir)
  • tener: yo tengo, tú tienes... stem: ten/tien- (e-ie alternation)
  • valer: yo valgo, tú vales... stem: val-
  • venir: yo vengo, tú vines... stem: ven- (e-i alternation)
  • yacer: yo yago/yazgo, tú yaces... stem: yac/yaz-

Zc-verbs

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This group of verbs—which originated in the Latin inchoative verbs but now includes other verbs as well—substitute -zc- for stem-final -c- before o and a. The group includes nearly all verbs ending in -acer (except hacer and derived verbs), -ecer (except mecer and remecer), -ocer (except cocer and derived verbs), and -ucir. For example:

  • nacer: yo nazco, tú naces... (-acer)
  • crecer: yo crezco, tú creces... (-ecer)
  • conocer: yo conozco, tú conoces... (-ocer)
  • producir: yo produzco, tú produces... (-ucir)
  • yacer: yo yazco/yazgo, tú yaces... (yacer)

Yacer may alternatively be conjugated with -zc- (yazco), -g- (as a g-verb, yago), or a compromise -zg- (yazgo).

Irregular forms in the future, conditional and imperative

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Some -er and -ir verbs (most g-verbs plus haber, saber, poder and querer) also change their stem in the future and conditional. This involves syncope:

  • Just dropping the infinitive e: haberhabré, poderpodré, quererquerré, sabersabré
  • Dropping the infinitive e/i and padding the resulting *-lr-/*-nr- with an epenthetic -d-: ponerpondré, tenertendré, venirvendré, valervaldré, salirsaldré.
  • Dropping the infinitive -ce- or -ec-: decirdiré, hacerharé

Many of these verbs also have shortened imperative forms (apocope): tenerten, contenercontén, ponerpon, disponerdispón, venirven, salirsal, hacerhaz, decirdi. However, all verbs derived from decir are regular in this form: bendice, maldice, desdícete, predice, contradice.

Anomalous stems in the preterite and derived tenses

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Some verbs (including most g-verbs and most verbs ending in -ducir) have a somewhat different stem in the preterite. These stems are very old and often are found in Latin as well. The same irregular stem is also found in the imperfect subjunctive (both in -ra and -se forms) and the future subjunctive. These stems are anomalous also because:

  • They are stressed in the first and third persons singular, ending in unstressed -e and -o respectively (while in all other cases the preterite is stressed on the suffix).
  • The rest of the endings are the usual for -er/-ir verbs, even for the -ar verbs estar and andar.
  • In the verbs with -je preterite (decir, traer, and most verbs ending in -ducir) unstressed i is dropped between the j and a vowel: ellos trajeron, yo trajera... This does not happen with regular or vowel-raising -ger/-jer/-gir/-jir verbs (proteger > protegieron, tejer > tejieron, corregir > corrigieron, crujir > crujieron).

Examples:

  • andar: yo anduve, tú/vos anduviste(s), él anduvo..., ellos anduvieron; yo anduviera...
  • caber: yo cupe, tú/vos cupiste(s), él cupo..., ellos cupieron; yo cupiera...
  • decir: yo dije, tú/vos dijiste(s), él dijo..., ellos dijeron; yo dijera...
  • -ducir (suffix), for example:
    • reducir: yo reduje, tú/vos redujiste(s), él redujo..., ellos redujeron; yo redujera...
  • estar: yo estuve, tú/vos estuviste(s), él estuvo..., ellos estuvieron; yo estuviera...
  • haber: yo hube, tú/vos hubiste(s), él hubo..., ellos hubieron; yo hubiera...
  • hacer: yo hice, tú/vos hiciste(s), él hizo..., ellos hicieron; yo hiciera...
    • -facer (derivatives of hacer), for example satisfacer: yo satisfice, tú/vos satisficiste(s), él satisfizo…, ellos satisficieron; yo satisficiera
  • poder: yo pude, tú/vos pudiste(s), él pudo..., ellos pudieron; yo pudiera.
  • poner: yo puse, tú/vos pusiste(s), él puso..., ellos pusieron; yo pusiera.....
  • querer: yo quise, tú/vos quisiste(s), él quiso…, ellos quisieron; yo quisiera
  • saber: yo supe, tú/vos supiste(s), él supo..., ellos supieron; yo supiera...
  • tener: yo tuve, tú/vos tuviste(s), él tuvo..., ellos tuvieron; yo tuviera...
  • traer: yo traje, tú/vos trajiste(s), él trajo…, ellos trajeron; yo trajera
  • venir: yo vine, tú/vos viniste(s), él vino..., ellos vinieron; yo viniera...

The verb ver in modern Spanish has a regular -er verb preterite (yo vi, tú viste, él vio—note the lack of written accent on monosyllables), but in archaic texts the irregular preterite forms yo vide, él vido, etc. are sometimes seen.

Irregular past participles

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A number of verbs have irregular past participles, sometimes called "strong" because the change is in the root, rather than an ending. This includes verbs which are irregular in many other ways, such as poner and decir, but for some other verbs this is their only irregularity (such as abrir and romper), while some very irregular verbs (such as ser and ir) have regular past participles. Examples:

Most of these verbs have derivatives with the same irregularity. For example, alongside volvervuelto and ponerpuesto, there are devolverdevuelto and componercompuesto; alongside decirdicho there is predecirpredicho (but note bendecirbendecido, maldecirmaldecido are regular, though they also have the adjectival forms bendito and maldito). Similarly previsto, rehecho, descubierto, supuesto, etc. Solver is obsolete, but its derivatives absolver and resolver (absuelto, resuelto) are in common use. The participle of describir is descrito in some regions, but descripto in others.

There are three verbs that have both a regular and an irregular past participle. Both forms may be used when conjugating the compound tenses and the passive voice with the auxiliary verbs haber and ser, but the irregular form is generally the only one used as an adjective:

A number of other "strong" past participles, such as ducho, electo, pinto, among others are obsolete for general use, but are occasionally used in Spain (and to a much lesser extent in Spanish America) among educated, style-conscious writers, or in linguistic archaisms such as proverbs (refranes). Otherwise, they are obsolete or solely used as adjectives.

Wholly irregular verbs

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The verbs ir "to go" and ser "to be [in essence]" both exhibit irregularities in the present, imperfect and preterite forms (note that these two verbs share their imperfect past tenses). Together with ver "to see", they are the only three verbs with irregular indicative imperfect past tenses. These verbs are highly irregular based on being single-syllable stems, and suppleting several tenses. Similarly, dar "to give" and estar "to be [in a state]" (whose stem was originally st-) also come from verbs with one syllable in the stem but they do not supplete any tenses. A table of their conjugations is shown below:

Wholly irregular verb inflection
Verb inflection Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Conditional
Present Past Future Present Past Affirmative Negative
Imperfect Perfect
dar/ dando/ dado "to give/ giving/ given"
yo doy daba di daré diera daría
das dabas diste darás des dieras da no des darías
vos
él/ ella; usted da daba dio dará diera no dé daría
nosotr(os/as) damos dábamos dimos daremos demos diéramos demos no demos daríamos
vosotr(os/as) dais dabais disteis daráis deis dierais dad no deis daríais
ell(os/as); ustedes dan daban dieron darán den dieran den no den darían
estar/ estando/ estado "to be/ being/ been [in a state]"
yo estoy estaba estuvo estaré esté estuviera estaría
estás estabas estuviste estarás estés estuvieras está no estés estarías
vos
él/ ella; usted está estaba estuve estará esté estuvera esté no esté estaría
nosotr(os/as) estamos estabamos estuvimos estaremos estemos estuviéramos estemos no estemos estaríamos
vosotr(os/as) estáis estabais estuvisteis estaráis estéis estuvieráis ested no estéis estaríais
ell(os/as); ustedes están estaban estuvieron estarán estén estuvieran estén no estén estarían
ir/ yendo/ ido "to go/ going/ gone"
yo voy iba fue iré vaya fuera iría
vas ibas fuiste irás vayas fueras ve no vayas irías
vos vayás andá
él/ ella; usted va iba fue irá vaya fuera vaya no vaya iría
nosotr(os/as) vamos ibamos fuimos iremos vayamos fuéramos vamos no vayamos iríamos
vosotr(os/as) vais ibais fuisteis iréis vayáis fuerais id no vayáis iríaís
ell(os/as); ustedes van iban fueron irán vayan fueran vayan no irían
ser/ siendo/ sido "to be/ being/ been [in essence]"
yo soy era fui seré sea fuera sería
eres eras fuiste serás seas fueras no seas serías
vos sos seás
él/ ella; usted es era fue será sea fuera sea no sea sería
nosotr(os/as) somos éramos fuimos seremos seamos fuéramos seamos no seamos seríamos
vosotr(os/as) sois erais fuisteis seráis seáis fuerais sed no seáis seríaís
ell(os/as); ustedes son eran fueron serán sean fueran sean no sean serían
ver/ viendo/ visto "to see/ seeing/ seen"
yo veo veía vi veré vea viera vería
ves veías viste verás veas vieras ve no veas verías
vos veás
él/ ella; usted ve veía vio verá vea viera vea no vea vería
nosotr(os/as) vemos veíamos vimos veremos veamos viéramos veamos no veamos veríamos
vosotr(os/as) veis veíais visteis veráis veáis vieráis ved no veáis veríais
ell(os/as); ustedes ven veían vieron verán vean vieran vean no vean verían

Note that whenever the stem of the indicative perfect past tense is irregular, the subjunctive past tense (-ra or -se) and the obsolescent subjunctive future tense (-re) share the same irregularity but with different infixes. The subjunctive past -ra forms are used in the table above, as the -se forms are less predominant. See the main Spanish verbs article on the Spanish subjunctive (imperfect) past tense. Some forms of dar and estar take an accent when marking stress would be redundant to distinguish them from unrelated verbs; such as contrasting with the prepositon de. In New Mexican Spanish, soy may be replace by seigo.

Notes

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  • ¹ Vulgar or profane.
  • ² Vulgar or profane depending on context.

References

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  1. ^ Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, "tilde"2. n.1.2.
  2. ^ Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, voseo, section 2.1.2.1.b
  3. ^ Terrell, Tracy D., and Salgués de Cargill, Maruxa, Lingüística aplicada a la enseñanza del español a anglohablantes (New York: Wiley, 1979), p. 97.
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