Best beginners Spanish grammar book

General discussion about learning languages
User avatar
reddragon
White Belt
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:18 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A1), French (A1), Japanese (beginner)
x 23

Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby reddragon » Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:00 pm

Just been searching through the forums and noticed the Gramatica De USO Del Espanol book gets mentioned quite a lot - is this suitable for a very first grammar book for a complete beginner? Or are there other alternatives out there?
0 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:39 pm

The "Gramatica De USO Del Espanol" series are workbooks for the specific purpose of introducing and practicing Spanish grammar. Of the three levels (Beginner A1-A2, Intermediate B1-B2, Advanced C1-C2), the first would be suitable for beginners. There are probably a hundred alternatives to this series, almost all of which are equally good. The "Practice Makes Perfect Spanish" series is reasonably comparable.

If you are looking for a small, easy-to-consult, low-key, introductory grammar to accompany your current study materials, I would recommend either (a) English Grammar for Students of Spanish, or (b) Spanish Verbs & Essentials of Grammar. Please note, however, these are not workbooks and thus are not really comparable to the Gramatica De USO Del Espanol series.

Addendum
After posting the above comments, the thought occurred to me that, as you are relatively new to this forum, you might not be familiar with its predecessor, the How-To-Learn-Any-Language forum, which is commonly referred to as the HTLAL. Although I never mastered the "Search" function of the HTLAL, I have been able, at times, to recover language discussion threads via the expedient use of the "G-search" function by simply placing my search criterion in quotation marks. I just performed such a search using "Spanish Grammar" as my criterion and, of the discussion threads that were listed, the following might be useful to your present question:

Review: Gramática de uso del Español
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40479&PN=3

Spanish Practice Makes Perfect Series
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32051&PN=1

Spanish - Best Grammar Book
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39089&PN=7&TPN=1

I am fairly confident that the three topics listed above have been the subject of discussion in literally dozens of other threads; however, this short list will at least get you started.

EDITED:
Inclusion of the Addendum.
Slight corrections to the text.
9 x

the1whoknocks
Orange Belt
Posts: 154
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2016 6:55 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Spanish (Intermediate)

Probably 'gonna' be next: Portuguese
Mayby one day: French & Japanese
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5253
x 347

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby the1whoknocks » Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:28 pm

Speakeasy has already provided some solid recommendations. I really don't think you can go wrong with any of those resources. On the topic of workbooks, two have been mentioned so far; GdUdE and those in the Practice Makes Perfect (PMP) series. I just wanted to add another vote for the Practice Makes Perfect Series.

Although both GdUdE and PMP are great series, for beginners, I give PMP a slight edge for a couple reasons. The ones I've worked through:

1. Have explanations in English, and are not un-necesserily wordy - This is a con if you prefer a more short and to the point approach. GdUdE explains everything in Spanish, which isn't a bad thing. It's a matter of preference. Also, of the two, PMP workbooks tend to have slightly more thorough explanations. More isn't always better, but PMP I think PMP workbooks stike a nice balance.

2. Have a variety of exercises designed to reinforce a topic - By this I mean that PMP presents varied exercises; with the help of these key words translate this sentence or short paragraph from English to Spanish (or vice versa), underline the correct preposition/verb/ conjunction, conjugate these verbs in the correct correct tense, etc.

Even in their C-level workbooks, GdUdE exercises are primarily fill in the blank in nature. It really depends on what you're looking for,
but as a beginner, I appreciated having explanations in English. I also like working through varied exercises to drill a concept. GdUdE suits me much better now; it's a page of sort explanations and examples followed by a page of exercises.

Regarding the Practice Makes Perfect series, I've worked through :

- Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar
- Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Verb Tenses
- Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions
- Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Conversation
- Practice Makes Perfect The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close

I own, but have not worked through:
- Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Vocabulary Building with Suffixes.

If I could only recommend two of these to the beginner me, I'd go with Complete Spanish Grammar, and Spanish Verb Tenses. Just to provide context, I was also working through courses based on dialogues while using most of these workbooks, so they were not my only source for grammar.

Again, both GdUdE and PMP are very good workbook series. Although you really can't go wrong with either, my vote is for the two PMP workbooks mentioned above.
7 x
"Wax on, wax off" - Mr. Myagi

User avatar
blaurebell
Blue Belt
Posts: 840
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2016 1:24 pm
Location: Spain
Languages: German (N), English (C2), Spanish (B2-C1), French (B2+ passive), Italian (A2), Russian (Beginner)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3235
x 2240

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby blaurebell » Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:35 am

I also agree with the recommendations above. Starting with the Practice Makes Perfect books makes total sense, because GdUdE won't help you much if you don't understand the explanations yet. GdUdE makes more sense when you already have a B2 vocabulary and need additional exercises to close gaps or deal with topics that you haven't quite mastered in classes, courses or other grammar books. GdUdE is definitely excellent to identify all the different little problems to work on specifically, because the whole structure of it is very systematic. I have worked through GdUdE A and about 80% of GdUdE B with noticeable improvement. Also, the lessons are short enough to split up your study time into not too long chunks. One lesson takes me between 10-20min depending on the topic and planning to do a certain number of them every day is a good strategy. In other grammar books I found the length of the lessons often too erratic to make that kind of planning possible. For problem areas I have also bought additional books from the Practice Makes Perfect series which go into more detail in their explanations. Both are great resources. There are other grammar workbooks that aren't bad, but these are definitely the best in my experience.
3 x
: 20 / 100 Дэвид Эддингс - В поисках камня
: 14325 / 35000 LWT Known

: 17 / 55 FSI Spanish Basic
: 100 / 116 GdUdE B
: 8 / 72 Duolingo reverse Spanish -> German

User avatar
reddragon
White Belt
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:18 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A1), French (A1), Japanese (beginner)
x 23

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby reddragon » Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:39 am

Thank you - I have ordered the practice makes perfect and the grammar book :)
0 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby Cavesa » Sat Jul 22, 2017 4:21 pm

There are more workbook series. GdUdE is the best, in my opinion, but I used also Gramática published by Anaya. Less complete,smaller books (which is an advantage, if you want to practice outside your home), useful as a complement to other stuff, only up to B2. The books are good, but they just pale in comparison with GdUdE.
1 x

ilmari
Orange Belt
Posts: 187
Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2016 10:12 am
Languages: Fluent - French (N), English, Hebrew, Japanese.
Intermediate - Korean, Finnish, Spanish, Russian.
Studying (now) - Russian, Spanish
Dabbling - Italian, Polish, Yiddish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Indonesian, Māori, Latin, Esperanto, Swahili
Would love to study - Norwegian, Swedish, Ancient Greek, and so many more.
x 461

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby ilmari » Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:00 am

Although the content and chapter division are slightly different, McGraw Hill 'Spanish Grammar' (Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced) is basically the English version of 'Gramática de Uso del Español'.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Luis+Aragones&search-alias=books&field-author=Luis+Aragones&sort=relevancerank
2 x

User avatar
reddragon
White Belt
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:18 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A1), French (A1), Japanese (beginner)
x 23

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby reddragon » Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:17 am

having purchased Gramática de Uso del Español working my way through it and it is very thorough, and no problems with it all being in spanish - :D
0 x

User avatar
Random Review
Green Belt
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:41 pm
Location: UK/Spain/China
Languages: En (N), Es (int), De (pre-int), Pt (pre-int), Zh-CN (beg), El (beg), yid (beg)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 75#p123375
x 919

Re: Best beginners Spanish grammar book

Postby Random Review » Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:32 pm

Now that there is an English version (before they only had it in Spanish), I'd have to say that IMO 'Students' Basic Grammar of Spanish' is hands down the best grammar for beginners. Nothing else even comes close for me. Once you reach B1, I second a lot of the suggestions above.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Students-Basic-Grammar-Spanish-2013-05-02/dp/B01FIXGFIO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503332973&sr=8-2&keywords=campillo+castaneda
2 x
German input 100 hours by 30-06: 4 / 100
Spanish input 200 hours by 30-06: 0 / 200
German study 50 hours by 30-06: 3 / 100
Spanish study 200 hours by 30-06: 0 / 200
Spanish conversation 100 hours by 30-06: 0 / 100


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: bombobuffoon, Sizen, tastyonions and 2 guests