Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions

I had studied Spanish for 8 years in school, and I never bothered much with learning prepositions or pronouns: such little words, what's the point in obsessing over them?

After having left school, I started working for a company with a high number of Spanish speakers. When I would try to converse with my co-workers, I found myself getting tripped up on simple words. I knew what I wanted to say-- I knew the nouns, adjectives, and verbs-- but I just couldn't connect them all together to make a coherent sentence. It was really embarrassing because they are such basic words. Maybe my co-workers could still understand what I was saying, but I just did not feel comfortable with knowing that I was sounding like Tarzan.

This book was exactly what I needed. It hones in on very specific types of pronouns and prepositions-- from the most basic (subject pronouns) to the more advanced (use of cuyo, lo que, RID formula, passive voice, etc.) to the downright tricky for English speakers (para vs por).

After having gone through this book, I was surprised to have learned so much valuable information-- though I was also slightly embarrassed because I realized just how many mistakes I had been making when I conversed with fluent speakers. But I realize that that is part of speaking another language and trying to become bilingual: you have to make mistakes in order to learn. Sometimes the little things really do matter! As the writer explains in the book, unlike with nouns, adjectives, and verbs, there really is no way to get around expressing most pronouns and prepositions. Substitutes just don't work! You have to know them (and how to use them in sentences.)

I would definitely recommend this book for intermediate students, or for more advanced students to use as a review. This book is probably not the best choice for beginners (you would definitely have to use a dictionary for all the exercises), but since the information is so valuable, I would recommend it for future use and reference.

The book is really great for when you need a lot of extra practice and whatnot. Definitely worth it

BUY THIS BOOK ALONG WITH ITS COMPANION ON VERBS AND LEARN ALOT FOR A SMALL PRICE!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). This book is one in the highly praised Practice Makes Perfect series. Written by Dorothy Richmond, the author of many other great Spanish language books, the writing is light hearted and engaging despite the dry subject matter.

Finding ways to make studying pronouns and prepositions more fun is a challenge, but one that the author succeeds at, creating a book that covers some of the more difficult and frustrating details of the Spanish language in a way that is both easy to understand and entertaining.

Pronouns and prepositions often pose a problem to students of Spanish because they work quite differently than they do in English, and yet they are important for key concepts. Ignoring them or using them in the wrong way can change the meaning of your sentence, and leave the person you are trying to communicate with confused. While the words themselves may be small, for example `lo', `por' and `mi', their impact on your fluency is big.

There are many exercises provided to help you test how well you have grasped each concept, and these interactive lessons are a great way to practice your knowledge and apply what you have learned. Unlike some other text books, the book allows space for you to make notes and complete the exercises on each page, rather than needed to have a separate notebook. This makes it easy to carry around and use as a study tool wherever you go.

Although the book assumes that you already have some Spanish vocabulary there is also a glossary at the back for easy reference if one of the exercises uses a word that you are unfamiliar with. The translation text exercises at the end of each section provide interesting vocabulary, and strengthen your understanding of how the element is put into practice.

This book is not designed for complete beginners, who may get bogged down and overwhelmed by the in depth explanations of each grammatical element, but is a great resource for intermediate students who already have a good grasp of basic Spanish grammar and want to perfect their use of pronouns and prepositions.

All of the explanations are clear and the book is laid out in a logical order, making it easy to follow. If you are trying to get over these particular stumbling blocks on your way to fluency then this book is a good resource.


In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.

1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasent to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.

2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity

3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one only because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish.

I have been studying Spanish on my own for the last year or so, using various books, audio, and computer programs. I'm at an intermediate level and have been finding it hard to get out of beginning Spanish and move comfortably to more advanced levels. Thank goodness I finally found the "Practice Makes Perfect" series. I wasted my time with most of those other books and programs. These books provide excellent explanations and enough exercises to allow you to truly learn and understand the language. Of course you might have to buy more than one, since they each focus on different aspects of the language, but it's worth it. So far I've purchased Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses, and Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close. I'm working with the first two at the same time--I've found that they supplement each other pretty well.