Spanish Verbs (Barron's Verbs) Review

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(More customer reviews)Please note that this is for the second edition of this book, copyright 2001. The previous edition says copyright 1990. I can't tell from the Amazon book page here if this is the first edition or second edition, but the cover design is slightly different from that displayed here from my copy, which I recently purchased, so I mention that just in case.
No matter what language you're learning (unless its Turkish, which has 100% regular verbs, or Japanese, which has only two), verbs are usually a major difficulty and stumbling block in learning a foreign language. This is the best compact verb book I've seen for Spanish. The pages VII to XL (7 to 40) in the introduction contain the best capsule grammar of verbs for Spanish I've seen, and is better than the ones I've seen in some of the bigger, beefier grammar books for quickly getting a good grasp of the basics as well as the more complex issues.
There are many features I like about this book, but one especially helpful thing the author does is to explain the formal grammatical names for the verb tenses, aspects, and moods and how they are formed in English, along with plenty of examples. For example, many of us have never thought of what the preterit or pluperfect is in English, but Kendris explains this along with many other useful things. Another nice feature is his discussion of how some verbs that express a mental state actually change meaning in the preterit. For example, the sentence, "Supe la verdad," means "I found out the truth." (Saber, which means to know, changes from "know" to "found" in the preterit). And the sentence "Pude hacerlo," means "I succeeded in doing it." (Poder, which means "to be able," means "succeeded" in the preterit).
Other features include extensive lists and coverage of irregular verbs, an index of 1000 verbs keyed to one of the models or patterns of the 300 main verbs in the text, an index of common irregular verbs identified by the infinitive, which allows you to look up which infinitive verb form it belongs to without knowing that initially, and an index of Spanish/English verbs. Each conjugation page contains at least a few examples at the bottom of the page of usages, such as in the Kendris's larger 501 Spanish Verbs book. Overall, an excellent little verb and grammar book for the student of Spanish, and considering the price is only 6 bucks and is over 300 pages long, a great value to boot.

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Approximately 300 most frequently used Spanish verbs are presented, one verb per page, arranged alphabetically, fully conjugated, and identified by the English infinitive form. Books in this series are smaller and shorter versions of Barron's 501 Verbs series. They make handy quick-reference sources for language students, teachers, and translators.

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