Spanish Grammar Book

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Hello Guys,

I am looking for a Spanish Grammar book that will walk me through what is there to learn. All grammar concepts start from A1 until B2. Something like if I want to read about a present tense in Spanish so all I need a little explanation, an example sentence, probably written both in English and Spanish. Let’s say, I have 2 weeks to dedicate to it. My goal is to start reading graded readers in Spanish as soon as possible.

I am going to meet my youngest brother who lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I will go there in July 2024 so I have like 2 months preparation before departure and will be there for 1 month. I will try speaking too once I am there. This Spanish language learning is more like an experiment thing. So no extra pressure.

So recommend me a good grammar book for Spanish.

Thanks

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Steve kaufman - co-founder of LingQ, recommends not studying grammar but says that if you feel you should then you should use the smallest grammar book you can find. Nothing is stopping you from reading graded readers now, the sooner the better. However, if you are looking to be able to have some easy communication in Spanish then I recommend the books on Spanish by Paul noble, those these aren’t really grammar books. Just something for a a head start.

You can also check out the grammar section on LingQ and study from there instead if you need to.

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I don’t know any “small” grammar books. The one I’d recommend as the ultimate “tome” is A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Routledge Reference Grammars).

I’d probably suggest a Teach Yourself Complete Spanish Book or Assimil Spanish instead. There’s going to be small grammar tidbits in these that will help with the basics.

You might also check out the Language Transfer Spanish course:

Free Courses — Language Transfer

There’s an app you can use…if you click on the “Spanish” hyperlink it’ll also show you can listen on soundcloud or youtube or download all the audio files.

You might also check out Dreaming Spanish youtube channel…the beginner videos.

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If you are just starting, I don’t think grammar books will be any good more than for a quick glance and for that anything will do. Mostly I would recommend looking at verb conjugations, not to memorize them, but to recognize them in CI. Otherwise basic grammar pretty much follows English grammar and I would not dream of being able to say more than just basic things. I would concentrate my efforts on expanding vocabulary and listening comprehension so that you can at least understand what is said to you.

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This isn’t a book, but you may find this page useful.

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Today is a holiday . Tomorrow I will go to a public library that has a language section. I think there must be Teach Yourself Spanish or Assimil Spanish which I can borrow. I will figure it out tomorrow if they have them or not.

The thing is, there is a sea of resources when it comes to picking the right resources for Spanish. 2 months is a short time so I have to combine a few best resources and make the best use of my time.

  1. 101 Conversations in Simple Spanish. I thought it would familiarise me with day to day vocabulary. I do not know if should I go for it or not?

  2. Learning with Netflix . I am thinking to use it as it combines both audio and text (under export button I can read text both in Spanish and in English).

  3. For Grammar . ChatGPT plus one of the above mentioned resources I can use. Of course watch Youtube videos.

I think i can not choose so many resources at the same time it will simply overwhelm me.

I would also look at verb conjugations as recommended above.

Let’s get started.

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Thanks for your advice. Let me put it into practice. Yeah, you can not repiy back if you can not understand. Totally agreed.

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I had two months notice before going to Norway last year. With my time budget of 30 min - an hour per day, it really wasn’t enough to understand much, or for CI to do its thing. I still learned because I like to. What it meant practically is that I could do greetings, and recognize or say the odd word in conversation, and guess better how to pronounce menu items.

I find even this level fun and motivating, and in most countries the effort seems to be appreciated, even if I’d be lost in a conversation. The other useful bit was reading food labels. That helped a lot, and not just for finding the ever elusive still water in Europe. :slight_smile:

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I agree with hiptothehop.

Frankly, if I just had two months…and I only had the half hour to an hour a day, then I’d probably get a good phrasebook (Lonely Planet for example). Learn the phrases that make the most sense to learn. Or figure out some things you think you might want to be able to say, and look up in DeepL or ChatGPT how you would say these things. Add them to a spreadsheet, anki or whatever and drill them.

Then accompany with Language Transfer or Dreaming Spanish for some audio.

I think the expectations probably need to be there that you aren’t going to understand a whole lot and you may not be able to say a lot. (depends on how much time you have to spend).

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