Spelling changes of seguir in present progressive?!

Question

Alright, I'm about to burn my spanish book. It says this underneath the grammar lesson for the present progressive : Seguir is a spelling-change verb. Before -e or -i, the spanish keeps the gu: sigues. Before -a or -o, the gu changes g: sigo.

What does this mean? I'm so completely and utterly confused. HELP!

Answer 1

Hi Maresomed.

All this means is that the spelling of the stem of the verb changes before an a or an o. If you look up the conjugations of the verb seguir, you will see what they mean: seguir

The stem of seguir is "segu", but if you were to use this before o in the first person, you would get "seguo", and the way that the g is pronounced would change.

So when this happens, you simply "lose" the u - sego - to keep the way that the g in pronounced correct.

I hope this makes sense to you - if not, just wait and someone else will come along to explain it more clearly

As far as the "u" after "gu" is concerned, you've got it. However, there is also the "e" --> ""i" change to consider: sigo, sigues, sigue, etc. - samdie, DIC 14, 2009

Answer 2

No, it's not that. It's like : Sigo viviendo en París. Whats the difference between using "sigo" and "sigues" for replacing the use of estar in the present progressive?

No, it's not that. It's like : Sigo viviendo en París. Whats the difference between using "sigo" and "sigues" for replacing the use of estar in the present progressive? - maresomed, DIC 14, 2009

Answer 3

It is probably easiest to just look at the full conjugation of the verb: here

Answer 4

It is all about pronouncing the word correctly. Seguir has a hard G sound, so to make that hard G sound you need a U after the G. Without, it would be "segir" which would sound like 'say Heer". Before an A or O, the G is hard, so it doesn't need any help. Sigo has a hard G. But before an i or e, it is soft and needs the help, so siguiendo has a U after the G to maintain the hard G sound.