501 Spanish Verbs by Christopher Kendris, Ph.D., and Theodore Kendris, Ph.D. is an essential reference book for students of the Spanish language. However, with features like themed vocabulary lists and written exercises, it can also be a useful learning tool.
Introduction
501 Spanish Verbs begins with an explanation of each verb tense. These explanations provide a concise summary of the tenses' uses and conjugations. They're great as a review, but if they were a student's first exposure to conjugating verbs, I'm not sure if they provide quite enough information. However, there's an entire book filled with verbs to help develop mastery.
Verb Listings
The meat of 501 Spanish verbs comes in its individual listings. Each page contains a verb, its translation and a note on how it behaves (e.g., reflexive regular –ar verb or irregular verb). Each verb is conjugated in the following tenses and moods:
- Gerundio
- Participio pasado
- Presente de indicativo
- Imperfecto de indicativo
- Pretérito
- Futuro
- Potencial simple
- Presente de subjuntivo
- Imperfecto de subjuntivo
- Perfecto de indicativo
- Pluscuamperfecto de indicativo
- Pretérito anterior
- Futuro perfecto
- Potencial compuesto
- Perfecto de subjuntivo
- Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
- Imperativo
A few related words and expressions also appear at the bottom of each page.
Verbs are organized in alphabetical order. However, defective and impersonal verbs are listed in a separate section.
Essential 55 Verbs
These verbs, including dar, ir and ver, were aptly chosen as high-frequency verbs that are important for students to master. In addition to drawing attention to them with this designation, the book gives each of the 55 verbs an additional page with example sentences, extra words and expressions related to the verb, and Spanish sayings when available. The presentation is a good way to stress the importance of these verbs while also expanding readers' vocabulary related to them.
Additional Information
The back of the book includes a guide to Spanish pronunciation, weather expressions, and a guide to using prepositions with verbs.