The common English verbs ending in "-vert" such as "convert" and "revert" have Spanish equivalents ending in -vertir, although the cognates don't always have the same meanings.

The -vertir verbs come from the Latin verb vertere, which usually meant "to turn," and they often convey the idea of change, the type of change depending on the prefix used.

There is, however, no Spanish verb vertir. Instead, the basic verb takes the form verter, and its meaning has drifted considerably, so that today it generally conveys the idea of pouring, dumping or shedding:

• Agua mezclada con residuos de petróleo se vertió en el río. Water mixed with oil residues poured into the river.
• Seis empresas pesqueras vertieron sus efluentes en la bahía. Six fishery businesses dumped their wastewater into the bay.
• Las orugas crecen rápidamente y vierten su piel varias veces. Caterpillars grow rapidly and shed their skin several times.

Verter is conjugated in the same way as entender, with the stressed e of the stem becoming ie. The verbs listed below ending in -vertir are conjugated following the pattern of sentir, in which the stressed e changes to an ie and the unstressed e sometimes changes to an i.

The most common -vertir verb is convertir, which generally means to change, transform, become or convert:

• Es pastor brasileño que se convirtió al catolicismo por medio de visiones que tuvo. He is a Brazilian pastor who converted to Catholicism through the visions he had.
• ¿Se convierten los seres humanos en ángeles al morir? Do human beings turn into angels upon dying?
• Para convertir un decimal a una fracción siga estos pasos. In order to turn a decimal into a fraction, follow these steps.

Related words include convertible (convertible), conversión (conversion, transformation) and converso (religious convert).

Advertir usually means to warn or advise. Except in bad translations from English, it is not connected with advertising. It can sometimes mean to notice or realize.

• Regresé a la estación de policía, y esta vez me advirtieron que mi caso tenía mérito. I returned to the police station, and this time they advised me that my case had merit.
• Nunca nos advirtieron que los calentadores debían ser instalados únicamente por electricistas. They never warned us that the heaters should be installed only by electricians.
• Advertí que el reloj no avanzaba. I noticed that the time on the clock wasn't advancing.

Signs or notices with a warning on them often are headlined with the noun advertencia or, less commonly, advertimiento.

Revertir generally refers to a reversion or return to a previous state:

• Creo que el gobierno va a revertir la crisis. I believe the government is going to turn back the crisis.
• La bolsa de Tokio revirtió la tendencia y cerró en alza. The Tokyo market reversed the trend and closed on an upswing.

Related words include reversible (reversible or two-sided) and reversión (reversion).

Divertir usually means to entertain or amuse, and the more common reflexive form, divertirse, can usually mean to have fun or to enjoy oneself. Although divertir can mean to divert or, in a military sense, to create a diversion, such use of the verb is unusual.

• ¿Quién dice que no puedes divertirte sin alcohol? Who says you can't enjoy yourself without alcohol?
• Los pasayos divirtieron a los niños. The clowns entertained the children.

Related nouns include diversión, divertimiento and divertimento, all of which can refer to entertainment or enjoyable activities. The adjective form is divertido, meaning fun or amusing.

Invertir usually means to invest or spend money or time. Sometimes it can mean to change the order of things in some way.

• Durante el 2012 se invirtieron aproximadamente 209 millones de dólares en la construcción de viviendas. During 2012 about $209 million in housing construction was invested.
• Había un par de horas bien invertidas. They were a pair of hours well spent.
• Invirtamos la cronología, vayando del final hacia el principio. Let's switch the schedule around, going from the end to the beginning.

The noun inversión similarly has two seemingly unrelated corresponding meanings: an investment, or a change in order or reversal.

• Inversiones de alto riesgo son para el inversor valiente. High-risk investments are for the brave investor.
• Una inversión de temperatura se produce cuando la temperatura del aire aumenta con la altitud en vez de disminuir. A temperature inversion occurs when the air temperature increases with altitude instead of decreasing.

As an adjective, the past participle, invertido, can refer to something that is reversed or upside-down.

Subvertir (pronounced as if it were suvertir and sometimes incorrectly spelled that way) means to undermine or subvert: Cuba dice que Estados Unidos continúa subvirtiendo la democracia en Haití. Cuba says that the United States continues to undermine democracy in Haiti.

Finally, pervertir usually means to pervert, distort or corrupt:

• La justicia ha sido pervertida. Justice has been perverted.
• Los escribas y fariseos pervirtieron la ley de Dios. The scribes and Pharisees distorted God's law.

A person who has become corrupt or depraved can be referred to as pervertido or perverso (feminine forms pervertida or perversa). These words, while they often have sexual connotations like the English noun "pervert," do not have to be understood in that way.

Sources: Sample sentences were adapted from online sources that included ElComercio.com, Facebook discussions, Catoliscopio.com, JW.org, Zazzle.es, DisfrutaLasMatematicas.com, Gabriel Velásquez Velásquez, la10digital.com.ar, Clarín (Argentina), TripAdvisor.com.mx, CubaDebate.cu, Ricardo Arjona, conCIENCIAtec, Dinero.com, Twitter conversations, CasaBonita.org and IglesiaReformada.com.