Explain how to conjugate pedir and servir in the present tense. Write your answer in English. Now, only use the lesson for information: Hola, we are going to learn the present tense forms of some very useful verbs today. The verbs pedir, or to ask for, and servir, or to serve, belong to a special class of verbs, known as the -ir stem changing verbs. Let’s look at the different present tense forms of pedir: yo pido | tú pides | él, ella, usted pide | nosotros, nosotras pedimos | vosotros, vosotras pedís | ellos, ellas, ustedes piden. Do you notice a pattern? All of the forms except nosotros and vosotros have a change in the verb’s stem from e to i. The nosotros and vosotros forms keep the e. Let’s look at some examples: Yo te pido la información. = I ask you for the information. Nosotros le pedimos una cámara digital a Papá. = We ask Dad for a digital camera. Ellos piden una computadora portátil. = They ask for a laptop computer. Do you think you have the hang of it? The verb servir, or to serve, works the same way as pedir. Here are the present tense forms of servir: yo sirvo | tú sirves | él, ella, usted sirve | nosotros servimos | vosotros servís | ellos, ellas, ustedes sirven. Do you see the same pattern? Just like pedir, all of the forms of servir except nosotros and vosotros have a change in the verb’s stem from e to i. The nosotros and vosotros forms keep the e. Here are some examples: Los gráficos sirven para ayudar la presentación. = The graphics serve to help the presentation. La página Web sirve para dar información. = The web page serves to give information.
To conjugate pedir in the present tense, you need to change the e in the stem to an i in all forms except for nosotros and vosotros. The conjugations are: yo pido, tú pides, él/ella/usted pide, nosotros/nosotras pedimos, vosotros/vosotras pedís, ellos/ellas/ustedes piden. For example, "Yo te pido la información" means "I ask you for information."
To conjugate servir in the present tense, you also need to change the e in the stem to an i in all forms except for nosotros and vosotros. The conjugations are: yo sirvo, tú sirves, él/ella/usted sirve, nosotros/nosotras servimos, vosotros/vosotras servís, ellos/ellas/ustedes sirven. For example, "Los gráficos sirven para ayudar la presentación" means "The graphics serve to help the presentation."