Learn Spanish (Spain): La clase empieza temprano.

La clase empieza temprano.

The class begins early.

Breakdown of La clase empieza temprano.

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Questions & Answers about La clase empieza temprano.

Why is the verb empieza and not empeza?

Empieza comes from the verb empezar (to begin/start). It is a stem-changing verb. This means that when we conjugate it for the present tense, the vowel in the middle of the word changes. For empezar, the e changes to ie in most forms, including this one (the "it" form, for la clase).

There are two e's in empezar. How do I know which one changes to ie?

In stem-changing verbs, it is always the stressed vowel (the one you emphasize when saying the word aloud) that changes. In empezar, the stress falls on the second syllable (pe), so that is the e that changes to ie, giving us empieza.

Why is it la clase? I thought words ending in -e were masculine.

Words ending in -e can actually be either masculine (like el cine) or feminine (like la clase). There isn't a strict rule for this ending, so it is best to memorize the gender (the el or la) along with the word when you learn a new noun ending in -e.

Since la clase is feminine, shouldn't temprano change to match it?

No, because temprano (early) is an adverb here, not an adjective. Adjectives describe nouns and must match them in gender and number. Adverbs describe verbs (telling us when the class begins) and they never change their endings.