Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

450 Pages·2007·3.03 MB·English

by  Dorothy Richmond

PRACTICE
MAKES
PERFECT
Spanish
Vocabulary
Dorothy Richmond
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DOI: 10.1036/0071458069
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Preliminary matters 1
The Spanish alphabet and its pronunciation 2
Stress and accent marks 3
Plurals 5
Diphthongs 6
Punctuation marks 7
Cognates 8
Basic greetings 12
Highly useful data 13
1 The basics 18
Defi nite articles 19
Indefi nite articles 22
Yo tengo...,yo quiero... 25
Está, the “is” of location 28
The use of hay 30
vocabulary building The diminutive suffi xes -ito and -ita 35
Standard orthographic changes 36
Cracking the gender code 37
Vocabulary
Family and friends 20
The animal kingdom 22
Around the house 25
Some basic words 26
The numbers 0–10 27
Está 28
Words of location 28
Items in and around the house 31
iii
2 Regular verbs 41
Conjugation of regular -ar verbs 42
Deleting the understood subject pronoun 48
Conjugation of regular -er verbs 50
Qualitative adjectives 56
Conjugation of regular -ir verbs 60
vocabulary building The suffi x -ería 67
Vocabulary
Common-ar verbs 44
Places of employment 46
Musical instruments 47
Common-er verbs 50
Food and drink 51
Colors 57
Common qualitative (descriptive) adjectives 58
Cognate adjectives 59
Common-ir verbs 60
In and around the school 62
Stores 67
3 Asking questions 70
Simple questions 71
Negative responses 74
Complex questions 77
Negative questions 80
Questions of quantity and limitation 82
The contractions al and del 85
Street addresses 87
vocabulary building The suffi xes -ero and -era 90
Vocabulary
Items of clothing 72
Fabrics and material 74
Clothing: parts and decorations 79
Tour ist sites: buildings 81
More tourist sites 84
Cooking phrases that use al 87
Directions on a map 88
iv Contents
4 Irregular verbs 93
Jugar (to play [a game]) 95
Poder (to be able to) and querer (to want) 99
Tener (to have) 103
Possessive adjectives 107
Ir,salir, and venir: three irregular verbs of motion 108
Hacer (to do, make) 110
The fi ve senses: oír (to hear), oler (to smell), probar (to taste), ver (to see),
tocar (to touch) 115
Direct object pronouns 116
The personal a 122
Poner (to put, place) 128
Dar (to give) and decir (to say, tell) 131
Indirect object pronouns 131
vocabulary building The suffi xes -eraand-ero 133
Vocabulary
Sports and games 95
Sports matters 98
Means of transportation 109
Idioms with hacer 111
The weather 113
Types of books and things to read 118
Professions 124
Household items/fi xtures 128
Verbs of communication and the movement/transfer of objects 132
5 The verbs ser and estar (to be) 139
Conjugation of ser and estar 140
Uses of estar 142
Preposition (cid:1) infi nitive 153
Demonstrative adjectives 154
Uses of ser 158
Possessive pronouns 170
Comparisons with ser and estar 177
Neuter demonstrative pronouns 184
vocabulary building Suffi xes that denote origin and/or nationality 186
Vocabulary
Emotional states and moods 143
Physical conditions 144
Physical appearance 147
Results of action 151
Adverbs and prepositions of location 157
The clock 162
Time expressions 165
Signifi cant dates of the year 168
Relationships 173
Personality descriptions 176
Advertising 180
Situational descriptions 185
Contents v
6 Saber and conocer 191
Saber and conocer (to know) 192
Adding object pronouns to the infi nitive 212
Pedir and preguntar (to ask) 217
Sacar,tomar,llevar,quitar (to take) 220
Completar,terminar,cumplir,acabar (de) (to complete, fi nish, or end) 224
Formation of adverbs 228
vocabulary building Compound words 231
Vocabulary
In the laboratory 193
Biology 195
Chemistry 197
Physics and mechanics 199
Electricity 201
The arts 204
Art styles and movements 206
Art class 208
Music 211
Theater and movies 214
Television and radio 219
Communications 222
Computers 226
7 Stem-changing verbs 234
Stem-changing verbs 234
vocabulary building The suffi x -ismo 252
vocabulary building The suffi x -ista 252
Weights and measures 256
vocabulary building The suffi x -ado/-ada 263
Vocabulary
Life and death 237
The press 240
Politics and government 244
Politicians 248
International politics 251
Shopping 253
Weight, density, and liquid measures 258
Length and shape 259
Geometric shapes 260
Expressions of quantity 261
Containers 262
vi Contents
8 Refl exive verbs 265
Refl exive verbs 265
Ponerse,hacerse,volverse a,convertirse en,llegar a ser (to become) 274
Gustar 288
Verbs that take an indirect object pronoun 292
Doler 293
vocabulary building The medical suffi xes -itis and-osis 305
Vocabulary
Common refl exive verbs 267
The human body 269
Addiction and violence 271
Religion 101 275
Religion 102 278
Social issues 282
Cooking 285
The emergency room 294
Personal hygiene 296
In the doctor’s offi ce 298
Medical specialists 301
In the dentist’s offi ce 303
In the optician’s offi ce 304
9 Para and por 307
Para and por 308
vocabulary building The suffi x -ario 340
Reciprocal pronouns 346
Vocabulary
Travel 309
Road travel 312
Travel by plane 316
Travel by train 318
Travel by boat 320
Streets and roads 323
Vacations and camping 325
At the hotel 327
Language 330
Listening and talking 332
Reading and writing 335
Postsecondary education 338
Geography 341
The environment and the ecosystem 344
War and peace 348
Weapons 351
Military personnel 353
Contents vii
10 The passive voice and negatives 356
The passive voice 356
Negatives 366
Vocabulary
Crime 358
Trial and sentencing 362
At work 368
In the offi ce 372
In the factory 374
In the toolshed 376
Business 378
Banking and the economy 380
Social life 385
Answer key 389
Subject and vocabulary index 433
viii Contents
Preface
Language, like all forms of art and beauty, is about making connections and
e nhancing life. Any human action, from writing a novel to taking a walk, can be
raised to the level of art. It can also be reduced to mechanics: functional, but
lifeless.
As you study Spanish, you can choose to approach it as an art form or as a
practical tool for communicating with others, or anything in between. h e lan-
guage itself and its various opportunities do not change—they are there for the
taking. What you come away with is based on your choice of orientation.
Both approaches—artistic and utilitarian—require diligence and hard work,
with attention paid to both grammar and vocabulary. A lopsided approach, how-
ever, can greatly diminish your enjoyment and success.
Language is like a house
h ink of learning a language the way a i ne house is built. First comes the founda-
tion. h e structure must be solid, well thought out, of quality material and crat s-
manship. Measurements must be exact, lines straight, surfaces level. Laying a
foundation is serious business, and structure, rules, and formulae tried and true—
not originality—reign. In language, this foundation is called grammar, a feature as
necessary as architectural footings, even though it has been unconscionably dis-
counted in recent years.
Imagine what a building would look like if its foundation were not solid. h is
is exactly what happens to language when the grammatical structure is shaky: It
crumbles. Where the careless builder now has a pile of rubble, the inattentive stu-
dent of language is surrounded by a mountain of words, each potentially useful,
some even complex and beautiful, but rendered useless in the absence of
structure.
h us it is that this book—a text designed to build your vocabulary—begins
not with a l urry of words, but with a solid introduction to Spanish grammar. h e
words will come because we need them—grammar is pointless without vocabu-
lary—but words remain rootless and adrit without the glue of grammatical
structure.
Purpose and organization of this book
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary of ers you the maximum amount of
vocabulary with the minimum amount of grammar needed to give the words life.
h e nitty-gritty technical and grammatical aspects of the language—which are
endless and will be debated long at er we’re all gone—are not included. Instead,
ix
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