74 A SPANISH REFERENCE GRAMMAR

in certain places to preserve that sound. See Tabla de Ortografia, page 188. 344.

There are two classes of orthographicalchanging verbs:

1.  Class I. First conjugation. Changes before e : c to qu, g to gu, z to c, gu to gii. These changes occur in seven places: the rst person singular of the preterite indicative and the six forms of the present subjunctive: buscar — busque; busque, etc.; pagar —paguê; pague, etc.; alcanzar — al-caned; alcance, etc.; averiguar — averigii6; averigiie, etc. 346.

2.  Class II. Second and third conjugations. Changes before a or o : qu to c, gu to g, c to z, g to j. These changes occur in seven places: 1st person singular present indicative and the six forms of the present subjunctive: delinquir — delinco; delinca,

VERBS IN -CER AND -CIR   75

etc.; distinguir — distingo; d stinga, etc.; vencer — venzo; venza, etc.; coger — cojo; coja, etc. 347.

3. A verb may be both radical-changing and orthographical-changing: empezar, 23, 34, pres. subj., empiece ; seguir, 29, 33, pres. ind., sigo; pres. subj., siga. 348.

6. Inceptive-ending verbs. These are verbs ending in -cer or -cir preceded by a vowel. They are called inceptive-ending verbs because the ending -scere of the original Latin infinitive indicated the beginning or inception of an action; e.g., Latin, florescere, to flourish — Spanish, florecer. The consonantal sound in which the stem ends may be represented by English th. According to 347 above we should expect before o or a, in the case of such a verb as establecer, to establish, establezo, estableza, etc. But a k-sound, spelled c, is inserted after the th-sound in these cases. In other words, whenever the inflexional ending is o or a, c is inserted after z : establezco; eztablezca, etc. Hacer and decir are classified as irregular verbs. 349.

1. Cocer (ue), to cook, mecer, to rock, do not insert this k-sound: cuezo ; mezo. See 347. 350.

2. Verbs in -cer or -cir preceded by a consonant follow the change in orthog-