Customer Reviews

501 Spanish Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses in A New Easy-To-Learn Format Alphabetically Arranged

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Without a doubt, 501 Spanish Verbs is the most useful book available to a student of the Spanish language. It is not just for students, however. I have heard that even fluent professors have had to consult this book at one time or another because they were confused about how a word was conjugated. Verbs are the backbone of the Spanish language, and if you don't know how to conjugate them, people won't understand you. I take this book with me whenever I go on vacation to Spanish speaking countries, and it has proved infinitely useful during conversations where I didn't know how to say a verb. Spanish speakers are incredibly patient if you don't understand them and need to look something up, and this book is definitely the most helpful.

I should also add one thing: This book unfortunately does not distinguish between verbs commonly used in Spain, and other verbs used in Latin America that mean the same thing. An example is abrasar (to burn or light) and abrazar (to hug). I was telling a Colombian security guard that I was lighting fireworks, and he was confused. Turns out I was saying that I was hugging fireworks. Abrasar is only used in Spain. In Latin America the word for lighting or burning something is Encender. I hope this book helps you as much as it did for me.

I bought my first copy of this book in 1987 and I wore it out! One could not ask for a more complete and comprehensiver verb reference book. It is put together in an easy to follow, comprehensive manner. It begins with a concise explination of each tense (simple and compound) with examples for each. That alone is reason enough to warrant owning this reference. It then goes on to fully conjugate 501 verbs in each tense, with one verb per page, listed alphabetically. So, for example, if you forget the irregular command for of the verb "dar," no problem, just look it up under "d." And there it is along with the verb's meanings, all its conjugations, and examples of idioms commonly associated with this verb. I studied Spanish for ten years and used it all the time. Now I am a Spanish professor, myself, and I still keep it on top of my reference books and reccommend it to all my students.

Kudos to 501 for being the bible on Spanish verbs for so long, but it is in dire need of an overhaul. Obviously, what's happened is the publisher feels it can just coast on this books notoriety and rake in the dough. I assume profits are good as the book is rather poorly printed on cheap paper. Imagine a book typed with an old 1940s manual typewriter and you'd be close.

Another weakness is that the book does not have example sentences, so there is no way to see the listed verbs in context. This combines with rather short definitions to cause a problem. An example: I looked up the verb 'colegir' and it says 'to gather.' Every other dictionary I own says that the primary definition is 'to infer.' Worse, the facing page has 'coger' which it says means 'to sieze, grab', etc. No mention that in much of the Spanish speaking world this is actually an extremely vulgar word for 'to fornicate.'

At the end of 501 there are a few verbs listed with idiomatic expressions but it looks like kind of an afterthought, much like the included phrasebook (why would you lug this tome around when you can just buy a pocket-sized phrasebook for a few dollars?)

I would give this book a miss and instead buy The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs, which is essentially a heavily updated version of 501. It gives numerous sample sentences for each verb, provides you with a full extra page of idioms etc. on the 'top 50' verbs, is a much higher quality printing, includes many more verbs, better explanations and definitions, etc.

This book is possibly the most useful Spanish language book that exists. It can help the beginner Spanish student, as well as the most advanced (I'm in AP Spanish and consult this book frequently)! It also has quizzes that can help you out with verbs with tricky conjugations. It also lists verbs that aren't fully conjugated in the text, and tells you what similar verbs are conjugated in this way. One more thing, it has a great list of phrases used in the everyday Spanish-speaking world, as well as a few Spanish proverbs. All in all, I believe that every Spanish student and Spanish-speaker alike should own a copy of this book!

I have to be one of the few reviewers who have felt compelled to rain on 501 SV parade and its rave accounts, but it just seems fair with respect to the overlooked competition. The 501 is clear but basic and repetitive. Indeed, it will serve the needs of those students who need to be shown "ad nauseam" (from the teacher's point of view...) how to conjugate a large list of -AR verbs with no internal stem change. Other students, faster, more curious and with more analytical skills, will need to conjugate a much larger variety of irregular verbs and will request much more bang for their buck. Those will benefit a whole lot more from the best in the field, "Spanish Verb Manual", from the excellent Passport Books series, by Alfredo González Hermoso. It is genuinely complete, with 5000 verbs, compact, clear, visually attractive, with many regional uses and expressions. This one is a must.

There are other Spanish verb books out there that claim to be better, or have more verbs written out in their full conjugations, or give you better insight to their usage in different countries, etc., but Christopher Kendris's book is the fastest to look up verbs, and the easiest to use. There are no fancy boxes with a lot of small print inside, or so many explanations that you can't find the verb. This is a no-frill, look-em-up, you-got-it kind of reference. It is extensive enough to satisfy most students (and even some native speaking professors!) Yet it does not go so deep that you have to finish the novel before you get the conjugation that you only have 10 seconds to look up for your work.

Contrary to the opinion that the work is only good for people who need to see a few hundred AR verbs fully conjugated, most students learn faster and retain the knowledge better when they hear, SEE, and write the information they are learning. It IS important to see the verbs conjugated because then they are reatined better in your memory. What would you remember better, a description of a beach in Hawaii, or a picture of it? This book is not just for slow students, it's for every learner or reviewer. If you have outgrown the need for this book, don't buy it, or get one that goes more deeply into the subject. But let's not confuse our own needs with the value of this book. By the way, this one can still fit into your purse or briefcase.

This is an EXCELLENT book. I bought this book during my first year of Spanish lessons at the recommendation of my Spanish teacher. It is well-organized, easy to understand, and thorough in its coverage and explanations of the different verbs and their tenses. Each verb featured has its own page and at the bottom of each page there are some popular phrases and expressions listed to show other possible ways to use the featured verb. I also like this book because there are quizzes at the back of the book to test your knowledge of the different tenses. A short dictionary is included in the back--a "survival" dictionary for travelers, but useful for students, too. I know it was for me!

This book was one of the tools that helped me get fluent in Spanish. This book did not make me fluent in Spanish, it was an awesome tool that took me to fluency quicker. I used it like this: I took it upon myself to memorize the 50 most common verbs out of that book in all of their tenses. Realisitically, I probably had only 20 or so 100% memorized, but I was really familiar with the other 30. That way when I was trying to say something, I had a chunk of this book "hardwired" into my head. I spent 6 months off and on with this book plus learning vocabulary lists from a college text book. After that 6 month period, I went total immersion for 6 weeks in Latin America and achieved fluency in that time. I would not have been able to do it so quickly without the help of this book.

Let's face it, writing a book that conjugates 501 verbs is no big challenge. The question is what else you provide in addition to the lists of verbs. And the answer with this book is not a heck of a lot.

In contrast, "The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs: 555 Fully Conjugated Verbs" lists the same verbs, but gives detailed examples of verb usage. The top 50 verbs get a full page of usage in addition to the conjugation, so that you can see all the different shades of meaning of the verb. In addition, a lengthy explanation of conjugations and irregularities is presented at the beginning. Finally, a special index at the back of the Big Red book maps 2300 Spanish verbs to the 555 that are conjugated in its pages--a terrific tool.

The 501 Spanish verbs book is kind of like a word list--it's just pure reference. The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs provides a lot more. And by having this greater information, retention of meanings and peculiarities is, for me, greatly enhanced. Get the Big Red Book instead of this one.

For english speakers who have never studied a romance language, verb conjugation almost seems like more trouble than it's worth. Irregular verbs abound and just when you think you know the patterns, some new irregularity comes up and smacks you right in the language faculty.

Unfortunately, verb conjugation is a necessary and monotonous part of learning Spanish. Without the ability to conjugate at will and without much thinking, fluency remains a Quixotic dream.

"501 Spanish Verbs" will get you up and running on some of the essential verbs of the Spanish language. When you're starting there's no way you're going to remember or not confuse the present subjunctive spelling with the spelling of the conditional or preterite. It's going to happen, and having this book on hand for moments like that will deaden the "what's the point of this!?!?" feeling. Eventually it comes together, and at some point this book will outlive its usefulness.

It's important to remember that this is not meant to be a comprehesive guide to Spanish verbs. That's why it's called "501 Spanish verbs" when there's obviously thousands more. 501 is a pretty good number of verbs to have on hand at the beginning of learning Spanish. It will get a reader through most children's books or basic reading. This book is to be mastered and built upon, not to be seen or used as a final resting place for learning about Spanish verbs. It should be used with the idea that someday it will be abandoned. If a learner of Spanish gets to that point then the book has done its job.