Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar

by Juan Kattán-Ibarra

Book Overview

Written for people both with and without prior knowledge of grammatical terminology, this book explains grammar points simply with plenty of examples to illustrate each point. It is structured so that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0844213373
• ISBN13: 9780844213378
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Keep this one around for reference...

"Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar" provides a great overview of the Spanish language replete with examples, exercises, and illustrations. Nearly every grammatical aspect of the language receives treatment somewhere in this book. As such, it makes a great reference. Keep it on the shelf for those inevitable moments of confusion when verb tenses seem coagulated or when grammatical nuances feel obscure. That said, this book serves better as a reference than as a teaching tool. Those already possessing Spanish skills will get far more out of it than those with little or none. The book's length (232 pages including exercises, dictionary and index) necessitates a compromise of breadth for detail. Most subjects receive cursory treatment. The later discussions on the subjunctive tenses are particularly brief and do not allow enough study for mastery (though they provide decent introductions). This will only present a problem for absolute newcomers, though, who should start with more detailed resources such as "Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses" or "Teach Yourself Beginner's Spanish, 3rd Edition (Book & 2 CDs) (Teach Yourself Language)." Those with more Spanish knowledge, from late beginner or early intermediate, will find a rich and brisk refresher course in the totality of Español. The examples help reinforce verb tense usage and pronoun disambiguation. The book's comprehensiveness also gives a bird's-eye view of the language's entire structure in a quick read. For more experienced readers, "Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar" will increase aptitude and grammatical acumen. It remains a fun and easy read throughout, just don't start learning Spanish with this book without extra help. But definitely return to it again and again for a great review and honing of grammatical knowledge.

Great concept...

I was a bit skeptical when I first noticed that there was a "grammar reference section" in this book--why would a grammar book need a grammar reference section??? It soon made sense, though. It turns out that this TY grammar book is presented and arranged a bit differently than most. It's generally broken down into usage, function, and application, rather than abstract parts of speech as most grammar books are. It has chapter titles such as, Expressing Existence and Availability, Expressing Location, Describing Process and Procedure, rather than the typical headings such as present tense, preterit, subjunctive, etc. All the concepts are in there, but they are grouped according to task, idea, or usage. For example, the Talking About Habitual Actions chapter covers reflexive verbs, position of reflexive pronouns, common reflexive verbs, adverbs ending in -mente, frequency adverbs, soler + infinitive, and acostumbrar + infinitive. So these are grammatical constructs you would use for Talking About Habitual Actions. Make sense? It's a nice idea. I find this a refreshing change. It's much easier to read. I have lots of Spanish grammar books and they are great, but none present the material quite like this book does. This format is very handy to look something up quickly and get a brief answer (including good examples) of the concepts. The grammar reference section in the back lists topics more like a standard grammar text would and goes into a bit more depth.

Systematic but brief

I used this book after I had learned some Spanish from tapes. I was going to a Spanish speaking country, and I needed to see what the words actually looked like, as well as to get an idea of how the language is structured. Here's the thing you need to know: although it says "Teach Yourself Spanish *Grammar*", this book is extremely useful as a practical guide to speaking the language. It's organised according to functions (for example: expressing wants, likes, giving opinions, describing the past). This makes it about a thousand times more useful than an ordinary phrasebook. A phrasebook only teaches you how to ask for, say, fruits at a market. If you're lucky, it'll teach you how to ask for vegetables too. With this book, you can just look up "expressing wants" and learn querer and preferir, and how you can use them with a noun, a verb, or a pronoun. It's really a more "building blocks" approach to language, but it still provides sample sentences for each idea, so you can see how it's done. This book won't have you speaking fluent, advanced idiomatic Spanish (nor is it a good reference grammar for advanced learners), but it will definitely prepare you to say a wide range of things in basic Spanish. By the way, I've lent it to two other friends who have also used it to get a basic knowledge of Spanish for reading or travel. One of them refused to give it back to me until he'd finished it!

Clear, concise, GREAT tool!

For any student, I would recommend this book. When I teach my classes, I often reference it for a second or third way to present the material, and have recommended it to any student wishing to review. It starts off with conversational help, and then the chapters delve into more grammatical lessons, always chock full of examples to help the information make sense. It would be an excellent textbook if there were exercises, but it's not intended for that purpose. I would say the ages are mature high school students and up. Sra. Gose Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

Easy to Understand, Concise

This is a fabulous tool for anyone studying the Spanish Language! It is explains Spanish grammer in a simple concise form which is much easier to understand that many textbooks! Everyone studying Spanish should pick up this bargain of a supplemental tool!!