Spanish Workbook For Dummies
Description
Spanish Workbook For Dummies is full of clear explanations and hundreds of practice activities for beginning Spanish learners. You'll learn how to express yourself, ask questions, talk about the past, and construct simple sentences--en español. As you work through the book, complete practice exercises, get lots of writing opportunities, and have tons of fun. Then check your work, with answers and explanations at the end of every chapter. Plus, you'll have access to handy verb charts, a thematic vocabulary list, and mini-dictionaries, right inside this very book.
* Learn the fundamentals of Spanish with integrated grammar that advances as you go
* Work through practice exercises and activities as you read through each chapter
* Improve and activate your Spanish with explanations of each workbook answer
* Avoid common mistakes made by Spanish learners and get ready to travel, chat with friends, or interact with colleagues
This friendly Dummies workbook is perfect for beginners of all ages. If you're looking to get started with Spanish, step right in--we've got the practice, practice, practice you need to succeed.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Content
Part 1: Getting Started with the Basics 5
Chapter 1: Getting a Jump Start in Spanish 7
Chapter 2: Selecting the Proper Part of Speech 33
Part 2: The Here and Now 49
Chapter 3: Sorting Out Word Gender 51
Chapter 4: Coloring Your Sentences with Adjectives 73
Chapter 5: Expressing Yourself in the Present 91
Chapter 6: Expressing Yourself with Subjunctive Feeling 121
Chapter 7: Enriching Your Sentences with Adverbs and Comparisons 149
Part 3: Giving and Obtaining Information 163
Chapter 8: Getting Answers with the Right Questions 165
Chapter 9: Being Clear and Concise with Object Pronouns 185
Chapter 10: Reflecting on Reflexive Pronouns and Verbs 205
Chapter 11: Getting Attention with Commands 217
Chapter 12: Preparing to Connect with Prepositions 239
Part 4: Reminiscing about the Past and Seeing into the Future 253
Chapter 13: Leaving It Completely in the Past 255
Chapter 14: Looking Back with the Imperfect 269
Chapter 15: Seeing into the Future 283
Part 5: The Part of Tens 293
Chapter 16: Ten Most Common Mistakes in Spanish 295
Chapter 17: Ten Important Verb Distinctions 301
Part 6: Appendixes 307
Appendix A: Verb Charts 309
Appendix B: Thematic Vocabulary 319
Appendix C: English-Spanish Dictionary 331
Appendix D: Spanish-English Dictionary 335
Index 341
Chapter 1
Getting a Jump Start in Spanish
IN THIS CHAPTER
Meeting others
Identifying the subject
Learning the basics: numbers, dates, and telling time
Whether you're a student, a traveler, a businessperson, or simply someone who wants to learn another language, you'll need and, indeed, want to know certain foreign language basics for most everyday situations. For example, it's essential that you address your peers, acquaintances, as well as total strangers in a socially acceptable manner. Can you greet those around you in a casual manner, or is being more formal the appropriate way to proceed? Some social interactions require that you arrange appointments and meetings, plan trips, consult schedules, or discuss financial transactions where numbers, dates, and telling time are crucial basics to know.
This chapter provides you not only with those Spanish basics but also with communicative exercises that will enable you to confidently express greetings and salutations, numbers, days of the week, months of the year, seasons, dates, and time for speaking and writing in Spanish.
Expressing Greetings and Salutations
The Spanish language clearly recognizes and requires that you use different levels of formality depending on whom you're addressing. You certainly wouldn't speak or write to a stranger, teacher, business acquaintance, customer, boss, or any person in a position of authority in the same way as you would to a family member, friend, or child. It's not just your tone of voice that matters; it's the words you use that make the difference. And in today's rapidly changing world, being inclusive and respectful of others is of paramount importance.
Use the following formal phrases when you want to meet and greet a stranger, someone you don't know very well, someone in a position of authority, or someone to whom you should show respect.
Buenos días.
Hello. Good morning.
Buenas tardes.
Good afternoon.
Buenas noches
Good evening.
Señor
Mister, sir.
Señorita
Miss, young woman.
Señora
Mrs. (or older unmarried woman)
Me llamo .
My name is .
¿Cómo se llama?
What is your name?
¿Cómo está?
How are you?
Muy bien.
Very well.
Así así.
So-so.
Regular.
Fair.
Mucho gusto.
Nice to meet you.
Es un placer.
It's a pleasure.
El gusto es mío.
The pleasure is mine.
Adiós.
Goodbye.
Hasta luego.
See you later.
Hasta mañana.
See you tomorrow.
Use the following informal phrases when you want to meet and greet a single friend, relative, child, and, of course, your beloved pet.
¡Hola!
Hi.
Me llamo .
My name is .
¿Cómo te llamas?
What's your name?
¿Cómo estás?
How are you?
¿Cómo te va?
How's it going?
¿Qué tal?
How are things?
¿Qué pasa?
What's going on?
¿Qué hay de nuevo?
What's new?
Nada de particular.
Nothing much.
Nos vemos.
See you later.
Hasta (muy) pronto.
See you (very) soon.
Hasta la vista.
Till the next time.
Que te vaya bien.
Have a good day.
Que tengas un buen día.
Have a good day.
Adiós./Chau.
Bye.
Should you be formal or more informal? Express what you would say to the people in the following circumstances. Sometimes, more than one response may be correct.
Q. You are walking home from school and meet a friend you haven't seen in a while. You greet this friend by saying .
____________________________________________________
A. ¿Cómo te va? or ¿Qué tal? or ¿Qué pasa? or ¿Qué hay de nuevo? These particular friendly questions (all four of them) inquire about what your friend has been up to lately.
Now try the following, remembering to be polite or casual depending on whom you're addressing. ____________________________________________________
1 There's a new student in your class whom you want to get to know better. But first you have to find out more information, such as the person's name. You would ask .
____________________________________________________
2 A new neighbor has moved in across the street. When you see him leaving for work in the morning, you would greet him by saying .
____________________________________________________
3 You just came back from a long day away from home and your dog comes to greet you at the door. You would respond to her by saying .
____________________________________________________
4 You are the new person on a job and you want to introduce yourself to your coworkers. You would say .
____________________________________________________
5 You have an afternoon appointment at the doctor. When you enter the office, you would say .
____________________________________________________
6 Recently, life has been pretty boring. When a friend asks you what's new, you would answer .
____________________________________________________
7 It's the end of the workday and you see your boss, Mr. López, as you are leaving. As you walk out the door, you would say . ____________________________________________________
8 Your friend has been sneezing and coughing. You would say .
____________________________________________________
9 After meeting a new colleague and exchanging initial pleasantries, you would say .
____________________________________________________
10 You want to express to a certain friend that you are looking forward to seeing them again soon. You would say .
____________________________________________________
Referring to Others Using Subject Pronouns
A pronoun is a part of speech used in place of a noun. Subject pronouns are followed by the verb expressing the main action in the sentence. (See Chapter 6 for more on verb conjugation.)
In English, you use subject pronouns all the time in place of, or to avoid, repeating subject nouns. It's much simpler to write, "They left," rather than "Mr. Anthony Bolavolunta and Miss Cleopatra Johnson left." The subject pronouns I, you, he, she, we, and they enable you to write clear, concise sentences. Subject nouns and pronouns alike are followed by the appropriate forms of the verbs expressing particular actions.
You don't use Spanish subject pronouns as frequently as their English counterparts, because a Spanish verb ending generally indicates the subject. You use Spanish subject pronouns, therefore, mainly to be polite, to emphasize or stress the subject, or to be perfectly clear as to who (or what) is acting as the subject of the sentence.
Meeting the subject pronouns
Just like in English, Spanish subject pronouns have a person (first, second, or third) and a number...
