Essential Spanish Grammar: Teach Yourself

by Juan Kattan-Ibarra

Genres: General Fiction

Synopsis

Is this the right course for me? Essential Spanish Grammar will help you get more out of your study of Spanish. Essential Spanish Grammar is an up-to-date introduction to Spanish grammar. You don't need to know a lot about grammar before you start. Everything is explained simply and there are lots of examples to illustrate each point. Unlike more traditional grammars, Essential Spanish Grammar is structured so that you can look up language forms according to what you want to say, even if you don't know the grammatical term for them. If you already know some grammar, then you can use the 'reference grammar' section at the back of the book to look up the points you need. The course consists of 23 units illustrating the various uses to which the language can be put, for example, giving instructions or talking about the recent past. The more traditional reference grammar deals with grammatical structures, such as the imperative or the perfect tense. All grammatical terms are explained in the glossary at the back of the book. Each unit contains exercises for you to practise what you have learnt and there is a key at the back of the book for you to check your answers. The new page design in this edition means that the book is even easier to use and the main headings are in English so that you can find your way around the book quickly. This edition contains a 'taking it further' section which will direct you to further sources of real Spanish. Essential Spanish Grammar will help you to understand and manipulate Spanish grammar with confidence because: - you need no prior knowledge of grammatical terminology to use it; - the approach is accessible and supportive; - the examples are clear and in context; - exercises help you practise every point. Learn effortlessly with a new, easy-to-follow page design and interactive features: Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. Author insights Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. Useful vocabulary Easy to find and learn, to build a solid foundation for speaking. End-of-unit summaries and online tests Summaries and tests to help you keep track of your progress. Extend your knowledge Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of the culture and history of Spain.

Release date: February 10, 2012

Publisher: Teach Yourself

Print pages: 456

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First published in UK 2000 as Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar by Hodder Education, part of Hachette UK, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.

First published in US 2000 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

This edition published 2010.

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If you are a beginner in Spanish looking for a companion to your Spanish course, or are an intermediate or advanced student who wants to consolidate what you have learned on your own or in a class then this is the right course for you. Essential Spanish Grammar covers all the language you need to interact with Spanish speakers in a wide range of situations.

Unlike traditional grammar courses, this book is organized following the kinds of things you might want to say in given situations in Spanish, for example describing someone or something, expressing existence and availability, expressing location, possession, obligation and needs, making requests and offers, etc. Each of the 23 units in this course focuses on two or more language functions such as the previous ones, with the grammar contents deriving directly from these. The language forms, then, will not be learned in isolation, as they are in traditional grammar books, but in association with particular usages.

The functional content of the course has been organized in such a way as to allow the grammatical contents to follow a progression which starts with the more basic forms and moves gradually towards more complex constructions. Unit 1, for example, which focuses on asking and giving personal information, brings in the Spanish for I, you, he, she, etc., ser to be, masculine and feminine forms of nouns, different ways of asking questions, etc., all within the same context. In Unit 9, you will learn to talk about the present, and will be introduced to the forms of the present tense and other useful constructions used for referring to the present. Similarly, in Unit 18, you will learn the forms of the simple past and other forms you might need when talking about past events. To express possibility and doubt, in Unit 21, you will be introduced to the subjunctive, a special form of the verb which is common in Spanish but little used in English. Special attention is given to the contrast between forms which English speakers tend to confuse, such as ser and estar (to be), the preterite and the imperfect tenses, the present indicative and the present subjunctive, conditional sentences of different kinds, etc. Information is also given, where appropriate, on differences between Peninsular and Spanish American usage. Although these are few and do not in any way affect communication, it is important that you are aware of them.

The two key elements in the book, grammar and usage, are listed on the contents pages and on the opening page of each unit, which is then followed by a list of Key sentences and a Grammar summary. The grammar explanations are kept simple, and all the sentences used are given with an English translation. An In context section with dialogues and brief texts related to the unit theme is followed by a Practice section, where you will be able to use what you have learned. Help with vocabulary is given after most texts, but you can also refer to the Spanish – English or English – Spanish vocabulary lists at the end of the book. In each unit, you will find insights with brief explanations and hints on how best to approach the material. Most of the information given in these notes relates to language, but there are also insights into Spanish and Spanish American culture. A Test yourself section at the end of each unit will allow you to assess what you have learned and decide whether you are ready to go on to the next unit or whether you need some further revision.

You may be wondering whether the grammar covered in this book will allow you to interact with speakers in any part of the Spanish-speaking world, and whether there are any differences between the forms used in Spain and those found in Spanish America. You may be surprised to know that, in fact, with more than 350 million native speakers in 21 countries, including Spain, the African continent and the Americas, the grammar of Spanish is one and the same. Minor differences in usage are easily identifiable and they do not affect communication in any way. Furthermore, these special features are not, as you might think, linked to particular countries but rather to whole regions or areas. Parts of Andalusia in southern Spain, the Canary Islands, off the coast of north-west Africa, and Spanish-speaking Latin America, have certain characteristics in common. Spanish throughout the world differs more in terms of pronunciation, intonation and vocabulary than in relation to its grammar, just as with English in different parts of the world. British, American and Australian people, for instance, sound different, and some of their vocabulary is also different. Spelling, on the other hand, is exactly the same in all Spanish-speaking countries, and you will find none of the differences that you encounter between British and American English, such as travelling/traveling, colour/color, centre/ center, cheque/check, etc.

A number of factors have contributed to linguistic unity in the Spanish-speaking world. Most important has been the role of the Real Academia Española, the Royal Spanish Academy, an official body, with national academies in each Spanish-speaking country, whose main function is to dictate norms with regard to Spanish usage, especially in the area of grammar, vocabulary and spelling. No less important has been the part played by literature and other forms of serious writing. Spain has fed on Spanish American literature, perhaps even more so than Spanish Americans have done on Spanish literary texts. This was particularly true during the Spanish-American literary boom of the Sixties, when Spain was still under the Franco dictatorship. Prior to that, at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, when Franco took over, many hundreds of Spaniards, among them many intellectuals, fled to Spanish America and made a permanent home in countries such as Mexico, Argentina or Chile, from where they carried on their work. Three decades later, in the Seventies, a number of Spanish-American writers fleeing military dictatorships in their countries made their way to Spain, where they continued to write. The media, especially the press and, more recently, the Internet, with the need to reach a wider public than that of a single country, have also contributed to the unity of the Spanish language.

It is this unity of Spanish, and with it the fact that you will be able to communicate with Spanish speakers wherever you are, that has led millions of people like you throughout the world to adopt Spanish as their second or third language. Spanish is now the second most studied language after English, in places as far apart as Europe, Asia or Brazil. In the United States, it is the main foreign language, but this country is also home to about 34 million people of Hispanic origin who normally communicate in Spanish in their homes. The number of Spanish speakers, native and non-native, is increasing rapidly, pushed partly by the growth in the Hispanic population, but also by the expansion of international trade, travel and tourism and an increased interest in Spanish and Spanish-American culture, including music, dance, cinema, literature, etc. Learning Spanish and Spanish grammar will give you the chance not just to communicate with Spanish speakers in different parts of the world, but also to enjoy Spanish and Spanish-American life and culture in those areas that most interest you.

Whether you are new to Spanish or have already studied the language on your own or in a class and are looking to improve your capacity to communicate accurately with native speakers, then Essential Spanish Grammar has much to offer you. If you are a beginner, it will teach you all the essential language forms that you will need in order to use the language accurately in a wide range of situations. If you already have some knowledge of the language, it will help you to reinforce what you have learned and take you beyond the more basic constructions to more complex ones, thus increasing your ability to interact with Spanish speakers, wherever they are.

If you have never studied Spanish before, you may be wondering how different it is from English and how difficult it will be. The fact is that, for English speakers, Spanish is not a difficult language to learn. There are a number of similarities between the two languages, especially in the area of vocabulary, but also in their grammar, which will make the task of learning Spanish much easier. Similarities and differences in the grammar, which is the main focus of this book, are summed up briefly in the following two sections.

The word order of subject (yo I) – verb (hablo speak) – object (español Spanish), for example, is the same in Spanish and English, although generally Spanish shows more flexibility in this area, as it allows for a shift in word sequence in order to focus attention on a certain word or element within the sentence, as in Hablo español yo, which is perfectly possible. The implied meaning here is that I speak Spanish, not English or French or another language.

Some of the tenses in the two languages are used in much the same way and, with a few exceptions, words like the, a(n), this/these, that/those, my, your are also used similarly, except that in Spanish such words must agree with the accompanying noun and will change for number (singular and plural), and some also for gender (masculine and feminine), as in el/este chico the/this boy, la/esta chica the/this girl, los/estos chicos the/these boys/ children, las/estas chicas the/these girls. There are many similarities in vocabulary, too, and many words derived from Latin are much the same: confortable comfortable, excelente excellent, presente present, profesor teacher, professor, etc. Similarities such as these will help to enhance your capacity to understand the language, particularly in its written form. Similarities in word formation will also help to increase your passive vocabulary: incapaz incapable, interacción interaction, paramédico paramedic; gratitud gratitude, artista artist, catolicismo catholicism, etc.

Nouns (words which name things) – for example, libro book, casa house – have gender in Spanish, that is, they are either masculine or feminine. The word casa is feminine, while libro is masculine. Sometimes the ending of a word can tell you whether it is masculine or feminine. Most words which end in -o are masculine and most of those ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions: el día day is masculine and la mano hand is feminine. Words ending in -r, -l and -ma/-ta/-pa are usually masculine: elcolor colour, el hotel hotel, el clima climate, el planeta planet, el mapa map ; words ending in -ción, -dad and -umbre are feminine: la estación station, la ciudad city, la muchedumbre crowd. Words ending in -ista can be masculine or feminine: el/la dentista dentist. Some words have different forms for masculine and feminine: el yerno son-in-law, la nuera daughter-in-law. A few others change their meaning according to their gender: el cura priest, la cura cure. More information on gender can be found in the Grammar reference at the back of the book.

With the exception of a few words which have a separate plural form, for example child – children, English forms the plural by adding -s to the word: car – cars. Spanish adds -s to words ending in a vowel, but -es to those which end in a consonant: el coche car – los coches cars, el señor gentleman – los señores gentlemen.

As explained earlier, many grammatical words change for number (singular or plural) and/or gender (masculine or feminine), depending on the gender or number of the word that goes with them, as in un libro a book, unas casas some houses. Adjectives (words which describe something or someone), such as bonito beautiful and caro expensive, change for gender and number. Such words usually follow the word that they describe: un país bonito a beautiful country (literally a country beautiful), una ciudad bonita a beautiful city, unos hoteles caros some expensive hotels, unas vacaciones caras some expensive holidays.

If you look up Spanish verbs in a dictionary, you will see that they fall into three main categories: most end in -ar (e.g. hablar to speak), while others end in -er (e.g. comer to eat) or -ir (e.g. vivir to live). The English verb system is much simpler than the Spanish one, as Spanish verbs change, not only according to the type of verb (-ar, -er, -ir), but also for person (yo I, tú you, él he, ella she, etc.) and tense (present tense, future tense, etc.). Most verbs follow a fixed pattern in their conjugation and are called regular verbs, but a number of them behave in a different way and are known as irregular verbs. It should not be difficult for you to learn the pattern of regular verbs, but irregular ones you will have to learn separately and must try to remember their forms. Some verbs are irregular in one tense, for example the present tense, but not in another.

Subject pronouns (words like I, you, he, she, etc.) cannot be omitted in English, as the verb form alone, for example spoke, does not indicate the person you are referring to. In Spanish, however, the person of the verb is shown in its ending, so words like I, we,they, etc. are usually omitted: hablé I spoke, hablamos we spoke, hablaron they spoke, etc. When the pronouns are used, it is usually for emphasis or to avoid possible ambiguity, as usted you (formal, one person), él he and ella she share the same endings (e.g. él/ella/ usted trabaja he/she works, you work). Ustedes you (formal, more than one person) and ellos they also have the same endings. Usted and ustedes are often included for politeness.

Peninsular Spanish has four different forms for you, two for addressing one person and two for addressing more than one person: tú (informal or familiar) is used to address family, friends and younger people in general, even if you have never met them before; usted (formal or polite form) is used to address older people, one’s superiors or people in official situations; vosotros (informal or familiar) is used to address more than one person; ustedes (formal or polite form) is used to address more than one person. Again, the ending of the verb will indicate the person, as shown here by the different translations of you ate : comiste (informal, singular), comió (formal, singular), comisteis (informal, plural), comieron (formal, plural).

Spanish Americans do not use vosotros or the verb forms corresponding to this, as ustedes is used in both formal and informal address. This usage is also found in parts of Andalusia in southern Spain and in the Canary Islands.

In Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and some other areas of Spanish America, tú is replaced by vos. In the appropriate units of this book, you will find information on the verb forms that go with vos.

To negate something, Spanish does not use the equivalent of don)t, doesn)t, won)t, etc. In Spanish, you simply put the word no before the verb to make a negative sentence: No hablo español I don’t speak Spanish.

To ask questions in Spanish, you can use the same word order as in a statement (¿ Usted habla español? You speak Spanish?) or you can place the verb in first place (¿ Habla usted español? Do you speak Spanish?). Alternatively, you can use either ¿ verdad? (right, true?) or ¿ no? at the end of the statement (Usted habla español, ¿ verdad?/ ¿ no? You speak Spanish, don’t you?). Like English, Spanish also uses question words such as ¿ qué? what?/which?, ¿ dónde? where?, etc. (¿Quéidiomahablas? What language do you speak?). Note that all questions in Spanish carry two question marks, one (upside down) at the beginning of the sentence and one at the end.

The above are only a few of the grammar points you are going to encounter as you progress in the course. There are many others which, for reasons of space, cannot be mentioned here. This brief insight into the contents of the book is only the first step towards gaining the competence in Spanish that you are probably aiming at. The second step is the book itself, with its unit-by-unit treatment of all the essentials of Spanish grammar. The third step is your own approach to the material which is being presented and what you can do to enhance your own learning. Try planning your own strategy to make the most of what this course has to offer you, to expand your competence in Spanish even further and to satisfy your own needs. The focus here is on grammar rather than vocabulary or some other aspect of the language, and there are a number of things you can do to practise this. For example, you can place flashcards around your house with words you want to learn, such as the forms of irregular verbs. Or use the flashcards to write brief sentences practising a particular point, such as demonstratives (Este es Carlos This is Carlos, Esta es María This is Maria) or possessives and descriptive words (Mi casa es pequeña My house is small). You can take them with you when you go out and look at them on the bus or train while you travel to work or school. With longer sentences, as in the Key sentences sections in this book, where each sentence has a translation next to it, study both the Spanish and the English first, then cover up the English translations and try to produce the English equivalents of the Spanish. If you find that relatively easy, go on to cover the Spanish sentences. . .