Customer Reviews

Spanish Verbs And Essentials of Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Spanish (English and Spanish Edition)

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I just couldnt pass up the opportunity to review this book. It is probably one of the cheapest books of it's kind and yet it is the best of it's kind. I am not kidding when I say that with this book and a good dictionary and phrase or text book you could become fluent in spanish. It covers Verbs so simply and efficiently that you learn the most important conjugations for each type of verb all at once in just a few pages. (Which means you are not trapped in the present tense because your class or text hasnt yet discussed preterite or imperfect or future).I must also add that it has an excellent review of idioms in the back and the best coverage of Articels el, lo, la that I have ever seen, and I have many books on spanish. Now before I go you must trust me when I say that I am being completely objective and that I am well acquanted with language study and learning (Japanese, Chinese, French, Korean) because this is the best book available on the subject, and spending more money will not get you anything superior to the coverage in this book. If you are thinking about buying it DO IT! You wont regret it (Oh by the way I am the only child in a spanish speaking family who didnt learn spanish growing up but I now speak it more than well enough to get by, in large part because of this little yellow book!)

This excellent little book provides the reader with brief but thorough coverage of grammar and verb conjugation. It is the only book in my collection that covers the proper use of 'Santo, Santa, San.' It also provides very clear explantions of the different verb tenses and moods. The explanation of gramatical rules is very clear and each is provided with an example.

This book is a reference manual, and provides no exercises. However, it covers several rules and topics that I have not found in any other work. It even has brief sections on correnspondence.

I've studied Spanish for six years, and I have yet to find a problem that this book doesn't cover. A good reference and also fun to browse just for curiosity's sake. Would be well worth three times the price.

After reading this book, I found it to be very useful. Being a Spanish major, I use it alot to guide me through my homework assignments and for review when studying for tests. The best part about it was that it was almost all in english, so it was easier to understand. When looking for books online I always read the readers responses because it helps me in deciding on what book to buy. It includes ser vs estar, por vs para, tenses of the verbs, pronunciation, articles, pronouns, and much more.

This is just the handiest Spanish grammar to have at hand. I'm using the Teach Yourself... series of books (I have the Latin American Spanish, Spanish Verbs, Spanish Vocabulary, and Spanish Grammar) and the Oxford Take Off in Latin American Spanish, along with the Pimsleur Audio-only CDs.

Whenever I have a question about a grammatical item, this is the book in which I can find the clearest and most concise explanation. For instance...it takes ages for them to talk about the imperative in the Teach Yourself series. In this grammar, I just had to look in the imperative section, and it quickly summarized how to make all of the forms of the imperative and what other verb forms each one is related to. That's all I really needed, a quick look-up, not a long winded explanation which tries too hard to be "non-technical." Granted, this grammar does assume that you know grammatical terminology--if you do, you'll probably be quite pleased with the speed with which you can find answers to your questions with this book.

I remember enjoying the French edition in this series when I was in high school years ago...and I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy this Spanish version as I continue my self-study.

This little text provided all the necessary basics to start from scratch and get to a fluency sufficient for simple but not overly simple conversation. I found this little book more useful than a 'phrase book' for learning to get along in Latin American countries. It makes it possible for someone who has not studied the language in any depth at all to converse in the past, present, and future, rather than just in the present, as many tourists tend to do. This book provides the basic framework to the language that, along with a small dictionary and some practice, may be all you need for learning at least a rudimentary spanish.

If you need a book that will give you a good, quick review of Spanish grammar, this is the one you need. Everything is explained, from the present tense to the Spanish subjunctive.

What separates this book from others is that it doesn't drill a bunch of rules into your head. Instead, it gives several examples. Many people learn better from examples because it is the context that tells you what you need.

Brandon Simpson

This is an excellent book on Spanish grammar.

It is composed of many short chapters each dealing with a specific topic.

The explanations are clear and to the point. They are well organized. The chapters on the subjuntivo (subjunctive) are exemplary in this respect.

There are no exercises--the book is thin--but many examples illustrating the salient points.

The book is lightweight, unlike almost any other grammar book I've seen and bought, so I took it into work many days, using it during lunch or on the commute. Often I would bring along a sheet or two of exercise or homework that I had scanned or copied.

The advantage of this book is its conciseness, clarity, excellent organization, and its portability. The disadvantage is the complete lack of exercises.

Supplement it with The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice, the best overall in my opinion, for the exercises and additional coverage and you'll be pretty much set for grammar. At least, these two did it for me. They were totally superior to the pathetic required--and hugely expensive even when used--textbooks.

Because of its low cost and since there's always room for improvement no matter how excellent a product is, I plan on also purchasing the new 2nd edition.

Buy this book. This book provides a comprehensive guide to verb use and grammar. Other topics include idioms, pronunciation, practical rules, time, suffixes, numerals, letters and extensive vocabulary. The book is easy to read and examples are abundant. The topics are easy to find because the book is brief and well organized.

To tell you a little about my background, I am the editor of the LearningSpanishProductsReviews site newsletter. I am also a native Spanish speaker and a Spanish instructor. In addition, I am the author of two learning-Spanish products offered at Amazon.com (USA):

1. Anna Rivera's 1000 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Words (English and Spanish Edition)
2.Anna Rivera's 800 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Phrases (English and Spanish Edition)

Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar is organized into 33 units, with each one dedicated to a single concept. In it, you'll find coverage of all the grammar basics along with verb tenses and moods. You'll also find discussions on idioms, pronunciation, suffixes and even some vocabulary. Every lesson comes with multiple examples of usage which I found to be helpful.

What you won't get are any exercises. I think it's very important to do practice exercises if you want to truly own the material you're studying, so I encourage anyone who buys this book to find supplementary material that offers exercises that you can do at home.

Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar is easy to read and well organized. It's a great reference book to carry with you and dip into whenever you have some free time, and you simply can't beat the low price.

I should mention that this review refers to a previous edition of this book.