oler (to smell)

Question

De repente he descubierto un verbo más asombroso y excepcional!

Oler - to smell...(and the present forms..)

(yo) huelo (tú) hueles (él,ella,usted) huele

Y....espera....espera...

(nosotros) olemos (vosotros) oléis...

y, despues...

(ellos,ellas, ustedes) huelen...

How amazing - I'm gobsmacked. Just had to "share" my discovery

Answer 1

Ever wonder why only the boot of the present tense verbs show that h+o-> ue spelling change?

If you look at the verb conjugations below you will see that these are the only words where the stress would have fallen on the beginning "o". I don't know what that means, but it is an observation.

Were they just trying to avoid making the words ole (3rd, person, sing, present tense, indic.) or ola (3rd, person sing., present tense, subj) that could be confused with the interjection ole or hola?

Why isn't it olo, oles, ole, olemos, oléis, olen?

Has anyone ever heard the reasoning behind the stem change.

Qfreed - good point with the "boot" - that might help me remember those parts of this "tricky" verb :o - nonombre, JUL 10, 2010

perhaps they could have gone "olengo" (1ps-ind) and then "olenga" (1ps-sub)..... - nonombre, JUL 10, 2010

Many stem changing verbs only change in the "boot" persons. - 0074b507, JUL 10, 2010

¡Qué interesante! - webdunce, JUL 10, 2010

Answer 2

• Oler -----> huele N. olor - scent
• Doler ------> duele N. dolor - hurt

Many verbs tend to follow the same path.

Let's see if I get this part right at 4 in morning:

• Huelo algo - I smell something
• Me huele mal - It smells to bad me.
• ¿Hueles la pizza? Do you smell the pizza?
• Hueles a aguacates - You smell like avocados.
• Hueles como cerezas - You smell like cherrys.

See all the stuff you can do? It's great fun to play with oler. Saber is to taste also in addition to "to know" and it is also it's own N. knowledge. Because sabor is the noun for taste/flavor.

Excellent - jeezzle - you're not a vampire perhaps? You know - "the one who doesn't sleep".... - nonombre, JUL 10, 2010

"Me huele mal " = something smells bad to me / I detect an unpleasant odor - samdie, JUL 10, 2010

oops. de acuerdo. - jeezzle, JUL 10, 2010

Answer 3

Ah, them nasty irregular verbs! I had seen huelxx frequently and knew it meant smell, but I am not sure I knew the infinitive started with an O! Thanks.