Spanish Verbs & Essentials of Grammar

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.

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.

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.

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.