Cecie Kraynak 
Spanish Grammar For Dummies 

The tools you need to master Spanish grammar

Spanish Grammar For Dummies is a logical extension and
complement to the successful language learning books, Spanish
For Dummies and 500 Spanish Verb For Dummies. In plain
English, it teaches you the grammatical rules of the Spanish
language, including parts of speech, sentence construction,
pronouns, adjectives, punctuation, stress and verb tenses, and
moods. Throughout the book, you get plenty of practice
opportunities to help you on your goal of mastering Spanish
grammar.

* Grasp the grammatical rules of Spanish

* Benefit from plenty of practice opportunities throughout the
book

* Use the Spanish language confidently and correctly

Whether you’re a student studying Spanish or a professional
looking to get ahead of the pack by learning a second language,
Spanish Grammar For Dummies is your hands-on guide to
quickly and painlessly master the written aspect of this popular
language.

Table of Content

Introduction 1

Part I: Starting with the Basics 7

Chapter 1: Spanish Grammar in a Nutshell 9

Chapter 2: Sounding Out Spanish Words 19

Chapter 3: Naming Things with Nouns and Articles 29

Chapter 4: Describing Stuff with Adjectives 47

Chapter 5: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Time 67

Part II: Constructing Simple Sentences and Asking Questions
81

Chapter 6: Writing in the Present Tense 83

Chapter 7: Expressing a State of Being with Ser and Estar
107

Chapter 8: Talking about Action in Progress with the Present
Progressive 121

Chapter 9: Replacing Nouns with Pronouns 133

Chapter 10: Expressing Likes and Dislikes 149

Chapter 11: Handling Questions and Exclamations 163

Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences with More Description
179

Chapter 12: Describing Action with Adverbs 181

Chapter 13: Modifying Meaning with Prepositions 195

Chapter 14: Acting on Oneself with the Reflexive 213

Chapter 15: Using the Passive Voice 227

Chapter 16: It’s All Relative: Making Comparisons 237

Chapter 17: Just Say ‘No’: Negative Words and Expressions
249

Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future 261

Chapter 18: Looking Back with the Preterit 263

Chapter 19: Describing Ongoing Past Action with the Imperfect
281

Chapter 20: Projecting Forward with the Future Tense 295

Chapter 21: Forming Compound Tenses with the Helping Verb Haber
305

Part V: Expressing Conditions and Giving Commands 319

Chapter 22: Wondering ‘What If’ with the Conditional Mood
321

Chapter 23: Taking Command with the Imperative Mood 329

Part VI: The Part of Tens 345

Chapter 24: Ten Common Spanish Grammar Mistakes (And How to
Avoid Them) 347

Chapter 25: Ten Useful Spanish Idioms 353

Index 357

About the author

Cecie Kraynak, MA, is a Spanish teacher, ESL coordinator, and author/editor of numerous Spanish books, including Spanish For Dummies. She has taught and tutored Spanish at the junior high school and college levels for more than 25 years.