Customer Reviews

501 Spanish Verbs with CD-ROM and Audio CD (501 Verb Series)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've owned 501 Spanish Verbs paper edition for years and found it very helpful. When it looked like it was formated for Kindle I bought that one too. It's good but it has some flaws. The complete introductory grammar discussion is easy to read. The "501" verbs are easy to access and easy to read.

But the other two indices have been a problem. In the paper book you can use the English Spanish verb index to look up English verbs, find the equivalent in Spanish and see where the conjugation is. Also you can use the 2,200 verb index to look up Spanish verbs not included in the 501 for a short definition and a similar 501 dictionary entry to help you conjugate it.

In the Kindle edition it's easy to use the Table of Contents to get to the first page of these indices. But to actually use them you would have to page through, page by page, until you found the word you want. There's no way to search for anything except the 501 verbs.

I got around this problem by creating a "Note" at the beginning of each letter in the two indices. When I want to look up an English verb, I "View Notes & Marks" and can page through quickly to the right area.

What the book really needs is two more searchable "dictionaries". I hope that if it's ever developed the upgrade will be available to us, the pioneer users.

Note: I've made my Notes public so you may be able to use them to access these indices with having to enter them yourself.

I am a beginning student of the Spanish Language. This book is vitally important to anyone who is trying to learn spanish. It has not only the verbs, but learning aids all throughout this book. A must for students of Spanish. It comes with two CDs which are also helpful/

Have you ever desired to use a verb in Spanish, but you were unsure of how to conjugate it? Maybe you were having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. And so you chose to use the verb in the infinitive because you were not sure about how to conjugate the verb. Well, you will no longer have to worry about becoming a participant in the Spanish verb conjugation substitution game. Today you have the choice of using up to 500 verbs or more with this book. This book will save you the agony of having to decrease the actual level of your Spanish and allow you to use the verbs that enhance both your writing and conversational Spanish skills.

This book covers topics on the formation of the present and past participles in Spanish, passive voice and active voice, the Spanish infinitive and its principal uses, principal parts of some important Spanish verbs, the future subjunctive and the future perfect subjunctive, and an alphabetical listing of 501 Spanish verbs fully conjugated in all tenses and moods just to name a few. The core of the book which is the alphabetical listing of 501 Spanish verbs is arranged with the infinitive, gerund and past participle of the verb occupying the top of the page. Below the infinitive are the English translation and the verb ending such as ar, er or ir under which that verb is to be categorized. Beneath this section, there are two columns with the seven simple tenses and the seven compound tenses.

The book also has verb drills and tests to sharpen the students' grammar and conjugation skills. Answers for these tests can be found on the CD-ROM along with explanations. If you want to learn to speak Spanish fluently then you must learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs.

For learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs, I actually prefer the Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software. As great as this resource or reference book is, it is just that: A resource or reference book. There's no way you are going to read this book from cover to cover. But the Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software makes learning Spanish verbs enough fun that you will want to use the software every day. I will even say that with modern methods of learning Spanish such as the Verbarrator software there is really no need to buy this book. You can just get the Verbarrator and learn Spanish verbs in a more effective and fun way.

Some other products that I found helpful are Rosetta Stone Spanish. The Rosetta Stone program works great for me because I am a visual learner. Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1,2,3,4 & 5 Set with Audio Companion is probably the best Spanish course that you will find if you are a visual learner. The one downside of Rosetta Stone Spanish course is that the Spanish is rather basic. You must also learn lots of new words, if you ever wish to speak Spanish fluently. For learning Spanish vocabulary words, my top pick is Quick Study-Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards-1000 cardsYou get 1,000 of these cards at an excellent price.

really good book. very nicely laid out. CDROM is for students just starting to learn Spanish with mostly basic concepts explained

There is only one reason I don`t give 5 stars. I give 4 despite one huge major defect. That`s because the book is that good. The defect is that the Kindle user can search only the main listing of conjugated verbs. Yet there are three other important and useful lists that can't be searched except by tedious page turning. These lists are: English to Spanish verb list; 2000 Spanish verbs that link to another conjugated verb having the same conjugation; and the list of conjugated defective and impersonal verbs. Even the "Search this book" function does not aid. It allows only searching the main listing.

I do not know if Kindle Fire corrects this. But with a regular Kindle it's a major posteriorly positioned pain.

I have the kindle version on an iPad and am not happy with it.

There is no index to verbs other than a link to the first one starting with each letter. That is, there is a link to "verbs starting with 'a', verbs starting with 'b'," but no esy way to find a specific verb.

Even worse, the page layout is terrible. The first page of most (all?) conjugations doesn't fit horizontally on the page. You have to hit an arrow to get the page to shift to the right a little to get the full plural endings, and then you cut off the left side of the page. This is really poor, and suggests that they didn't give the iPad (at least) kindle version much thought at all.

The book was delivered as promised and is a great book. I can look up different words and figure out why it is being used instead of another. Great compliment to the Pimsleur learning tapes.

I just received this and haven't even cracked it open yet, but Mac users please note: I tried using the enclosed CD-ROM disc and get a message that "You can't open the application 501Verbs because PowerPC applications are no longer supported." The audio CD is fine in iTunes.

This book is definitely a great buy. It doesn't have EVERY verd (obviously) but it has the most used and importatnt. I would highly recommend this to anyone taking a spanish class or wanting to expand their spanish vocabulary.

One problem in learning Spanish well is the conjugation of verbs. This text provides the information necessary for the frequently used verbs. The CD-ROM also provides drills and exercises which assist with retention.