Gordon Smith-Durán - Perfecting the Pronouns in Spanish: A workbook designed with you in mind

Perfecting the Pronouns in Spanish.

A workbook designed with you in mind.

Working to make learning the Spanish language accessible to everyone.

Gordon Smith-Durn
Cynthia Smith-Durn

LightSpeed Spanish

Copyright 2018 by LightSpeed Spanish

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2018 Edition

ISBN 978-1985806481

LightSpeed Spanish
221 Calle Circular,
Las Dehesas,
Valdenuo Fernndez,
Guadalajara,
Espaa.
19185

https://lightspeedspanish.co.uk

Index

Dedication

We continue to produce these books because of the incredibly positive feedback that we get from our students. It is you, the person with this book in your hands, that has been the inspiration for what you are about to read and learn. We thank you for that and wish you a wonderful learning experience over the next short while.

Your help, please.

We are self-publishing authors, which means that we have to proofread our own books. No matter how much we check them, we, inevitably, end up with the occasional typo or error.

If you were to spot any glaring errors as you work through this book, please, feel free to let us know at:

or contact us through our website:

https://lightspeedspanish.co.uk

Perfecting the Pronouns in Spanish.

If I had tried to write this book ten years ago, it would have been a disaster. In fact, there wouldn't have been a book. The best I could have managed to write would have been a list of extremely frustrating questions, each of which would have come without an answer.

If I had written this book five years ago, I think it would have been a fairly reasonable read but would have left the reader lacking that nice feeling you get when something puzzling finally makes sense.

It's for this reason that I'm writing it now and not before. The truth is that, unless you've really got something worthwhile to say on a subject, then it's hardly worth wasting the paper on it.

After having struggled so long to understand the Spanish pronouns, especially the terrifying ones such as the Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns (the name is enough to strike fear into the hardiest of us), I finally had an epiphany. Well, let me be honest, the word epiphany leads you to think that everything became clear 'de golpe' or all at once. That is certainly not the case. Rather, it was through the dogged repetition of having to cobble together a plausible explanation for my students that led me to the solution for the pronoun problem.

What does this book cover?

Of course, this book isn't just about the Direct and Indirect pronouns. We intend to cover as much of the subject as the thickness of this book will allow. However, if you were to take away just one thing from your learning journey with us here, then understanding and using the Direct and Indirect pronouns well would be it.

The reason I say this is because, in all the years that we have been teaching Spanish, the biggest challenge that the majority of our students have had has been with those ghastly little LE LOs.

We can often get a handle on the other pronouns fairly quickly. Normally, after wrestling on the floor with them for a bit, we tend to get a handle on the Reflexive pronouns. (But not on the broader uses of SE which we will come to.) The Demonstrative pronouns, whose name rarely leads us to think about the words: this, that, these, etc. can be a little tricky, for sure. However, after a good bit of practice, we've pretty much got them flying in formation.

Yet, when we come face to face with the LE, the LO, the LA and the LAS; the SE LO and the SE LE, we are often left 'boquiabiertos' with confusion.

The great news is that you don't need to be scared or confused anymore. Taking you by the hand, we will lead you gently through each subject area. What is more, we won't leave you on your own and we'll always aim to explain everything in simple terms that won't leave you feeling silly or inadequate.

Let's break the mold.

In each of our books, we have talked about how grammar has evolved over time into a veritable monster. What we mean by that is that the fairly straight forward language that we use on a daily basis has been given names that make it incomprehensible to the normal person. What is certain is that those who took upon themselves the task of naming each verb tense and grammatical structure don't appear to have had the end user in mind.

In fact, looking at the mess and confusion found in the world of stuffy grammatical names, one couldn't be blamed for thinking that they wanted to make it complicated on purpose!

For example, the Present Perfect tense (I have eaten) is more linked to the past than the present, wouldn't you say? And, given its many irregular Past Participles (hecho, roto, frito, dicho, etc.) there's certainly nothing about it that one might consider perfect.

The Pluperfect (aka Pluscuamperfecto) actually means, 'more than perfect', as if somehow that would help us identify the tense more easily! I often fantasise about how the first conversations went between those early erudite scholars who were tasked with put a name to much of the new language emerging at that time. Perhaps it went something like this:

Complicaditius : Dificilitius, our task today is to find a suitable name for that 'I have eaten' tense. Frankly, we cannot keep calling it by that name. What will people think of us? They expect more from us and, after all, we are supposed to be the experts here!

Dificilitius : Along what lines is your mind running, Compli?

Complicaditius : Well, it's clear that the tense refers to a moment in the past, yet I'm aware of the fact that as we use it, we find ourselves in the present.

Dificilitius : Wouldn't that apply to all tenses, though?

Complicaditius : Well, yes it would I suppose. Do you think that might be a problem?

Dificilitius : Possibly, but it's nothing that we can't explain in a lengthy liturgical paper at a later stage.

Complicaditius : Perfect!! So we are agreed on calling it 'Present', yes? Now we just need one more word to round off the name. Any ideas Difi?

Dificilitius : That's it!

Complicaditius : That's what?

Dificilitius : Perfect! Let's call it the Present Perfect.

Complicaditius : Really? It sounds wonderful, I have to admit. I particularly like the alliteration. The Present Perfect. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? But, Difi, what would you say there was about the tense that makes it so perfect?

Dificilitius : What does it matter? It sounds perfect to me and that's enough of a reason, don't you think? Quickly, get that written down before we forget it.

Complicaditius : Super! And while we are on, we had better sort out that 'had done' tense too.

Dificilitius : Steady on, old chap! We haven't even had lunch yet. Let's leave that for the moment and once we've had a few of those roast swan cutlets that cook prepares so well we'll get back down to the task.

Complicaditius : I agree, there's nothing better than a full stomach to help one come up with something more than perfect!

Dificilitius : Hold that thought, Compli. I think you might be on to something there.