Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation, Premium Fourth Edition
By Jean Yates
Contents
Preface iv
1 Introducing yourself and others 1
2 Expressing opinions, likes, and dislikes 13
3 Striking up a conversation 27
4 Making dates and appointments 39
5 Describing people, places, and things 51
6 Expressing wants and needs 63
7 Making requests and offers 75
8 Expressing doubts and uncertainty 89
9 Talking about future events 101
10 Making a case or arguing a point 113
11 Narrating a story 125
12 Retelling a conversation 139
13 Talking about controversial issues 151
Appendix: Grammar review 169
Spanish-English glossary 182
English-Spanish glossary 191
Answer key 200
Preface
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation is designed to give you practice with the vocabulary and structures that are most often used in common types of informal conversations.
The book consists of thirteen chapters, each one devoted to a singular conversational topic, arranged in no particular order. That is, each chapter begins with a typical conversation, which—like most natural conversations—may include a variety of verb tenses and moods. As the chapters are arranged by topic, rather than by grammatical forms or difficulty, you may change the order of topics/chapters according to your interests, or perhaps to coordinate with a textbook prescribed for your courses.
Following each model conversation is a discussion of vocabulary and structures that is especially useful for the type of conversation in question. You will find that certain expressions are used in more than one chapter, providing reinforcement, and demonstrating how they can be used in different contexts.
After each discussion section are several sets of written exercises designed to help you feel confident that you have understood the material. The exercises also give you practice in using new vocabulary and structures so that you will be able to use them in your own personal conversations.
At the end of the book you will find an Appendix that includes a review of the basic parts of speech; a guide to the formation of all the verb tenses and moods, including irregular forms; a Spanish-English glossary of the vocabulary included in the book; and an English-Spanish glossary of the same vocabulary. An answer key to all the written exercises follows.
We hope you will find this book useful, and that you will continue to practice your Spanish in conversations with your Spanish-speaking friends and acquaintances. ¡Siga hablando!