Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses

This book will help with reading comprehension and writing of Spanish. All of the verb tenses are covered, and accompanied by exercises that solidly reinforce the material. All you need to do is sit down with a pencil or pen, start reading and then start writing. The exercises are designed to reinforce your learning, and you'll be surprised how much you retain from completing them. I am almost completely self-taught (I had some help from some native speakers with conversation), and this book was a part of my language-learning arsenal that helped me more than get by with Spanish in South America and Spain.

LIttle by little the book goes through the various Spanish verb tenses starting with the present (hablo, hablas, etc). Before that the book goes over some basics like pronouns to provide a foundation (yo, te, me, elle, etc.). From there the book goes on to cover every Spanish verb tense I've ever heard of, including an elucidating few chapters on the subjunctive. You can literally start with almost no knowledge of Spanish. The book will not help you with speaking, however, nor will it teach you everything. Believe the words on the cover: this book is about verbs.

Verb conjugation may not be the most exciting thing humans have come up with, but this book almost makes conjugation fun (did I say that? No, not me, must have been someone else).

You certainly can't go wrong for the price.


There are only 5 or 6 things that You must have to learn Spanish: This Book is One of them   April 11, 2007
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

There are plenty of books and courses that will help you learn Spanish. But there are only about 5 or 6 that I would consider mandatory if you want to learn Spanish easily. This book is one of them. If you are serious about learning to speak Spanish I encourage you to get the
following:

1. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions
2. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses
3. Learning Spanish Like Crazy CD course
4. 501 Spanish Verbs
5. A good Spanish dictionary
6. Spanish phrase book (1001 Most Useful Spanish Words or 770 Basic Phrases)

That's how I built a solid foundation. Just using the above 6 tools. Everything else is supplemental but these 6 tools are mandatory. I am not fluent but I am able to communicate confidently and say just about anything that I want to say in Spanish and understand native speakers unless they are speaking at the pace of rapid machine gun fire.

This book has really helped me a lot with conjugating verbs. Conjugating Spanish verbs has always been my greatest challenge with learning Spanish. But by using this book with the Learning Spanish Like Crazy CDs and using 501 Spanish Verbs as a reference I am finally mastering conjugating Spanish verbs. There are also plenty of exercises in this book to help you learn conjugating verbs and to reinforce what you learn about conjugating Spanish verbs. The most important advice that I can give you about this book is that you must do more than read the book. You must actually do the exercises to get the full benefit of this book and really learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs. And I recommend going through each lesson in the Learning Spanish Like Crazy CDs at least 3 times so that conjugating Spanish will begin to feel natural.

The best thing about this book is that unlike other Grammar books, the exercises in this book are fun to do. But start on this book before doing the other book in the Practice Makes Perfect series (Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions).




This is the BEST Spanish Resource Book EVER   January 4, 2001
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Dorothy Devney Richmond has produced a wonderful exercise book to help students master the Spanish language. Her explanations and examples are clear and concise and the opportunities for practice, practice, practice are invaluable in applying the rules of grammar. Every exercise has the correct answers in the back of the book, unlike most other Spanish workbooks. I teach Spanish at our local community college and I recommend this book to all my students as an excellent resource book to be used in addition to the classroom text. I only wish Ms. Richmond would publish more! How about a 2nd Edition of Spanish Verb Tenses?


Clearly written explanation with concise examples.   May 11, 2001
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

The explanations given in this book are the clearest I have found for the use of the various tenses and verbs. For example, the author provides five pages of material describing the proper uses of 'ser' and 'estar.' She clearly details how each should be used. The exercises are very appliable and to the point. The book is wonerfully lacking in linguistic jargon. Any linguistic terms used are explained clearly with appropriate examples. The format is very easy to follow, and the book is logically organized.

This book is exactly what it claims to be. It provides further practice for someone with a basic grasp of Spanish. I am using it in conjunction with Barron's Mastering Spanish Level II audiocassette series and have found it to be a very useful asset. Answers to the exercises are given in an easy-to-read format in the back of the book.