Complete Spanish Step-by-Step (textbook)

Today, I am excited to begin Complete Spanish Step-by-Step by Barbara Bregstein(I highly recommend this textbook, it includes written assignments that really help with comprehension).

It was actually Avina who first found this textbook.

I have to make a greater effort with Spanish if I hope to ever pass my Citizenship test. I'll have to be fluent to do that!

What's nice about this book is that it is based on Mexican Spanish. Most of the resources I have worked with thus far have been geared towards Spanish from Spain.

Compared to Mexican Spanish, it makes the speaker sound like they have a lisp. This is one of the reasons I wasn't extremely excited to use the resources from Spain. And, you know how it is. If you aren't really excited about something, you tend to avoid it.

When I was younger, learning languages was so easy. I just don't find it as easy anymore. Maybe, it's because I am busier and have more on my mind? I'm not sure.

One way or another, I am determined to be a fluent Spanish speaker. I already speak more than 3 languages. This should be entirely possible!

So, today I am buckling down to tackle the first part of this book. Apparently, this is not a textbook you can jump around in. It's meant to do in order, so that is how I will approach it.

One thing I am very grateful for is the pronunciation in Spanish. There are actual rules for how things are pronounced, versus the absolute mayhem that is English. That should make it easier to learn, and speak.

Something really cool I found is, if you use The Spanish Dictionary an actual human pronounces the words for you(when you click the little Speaker Icon beside the word). You get an actual video, so you get to see the mouth movements and what it actually sounds like, versus that robotic Google Translate voice. Just make sure it is set to LATAM and not Spain, when the video pops up. Otherwise, you will sound like you have a lisp in Mexico.

Did you know: That w was not considered a part of the Spanish alphabet? It is only used in words of foreign origin.

Also, there is no v sound in Spanish. V sounds like b.

And, the h is silent.

Spanish also has some extra letters:
A -a
B -be
C -ce
CH -che (not official)
D -de
E -e
F -efe
G -ge
H -hache (the h is silent)
I -i
J -jota
K -ka
L -ele
LL -elle (not official)
M -eme
N -ene
Ñ -eñe
O -o
P -pe
Q -cu
R -ere
RR -erre (not official)
S -ese
T -te
U -u
V -ve
W -doble ve
X -equis
Y -i griega
Z -zeta

Here is something else that is kinda cool: If a one syllable word has an accent, that means there is another word with the same spelling that has a different meaning. So, that makes the accents even more important!

I don't have a Spanish keyboard, and I am not handy enough to easily be able to switch between the two. So I use ALT codes instead. That seems to work fine for me, for now.

I have a tough time remembering if nouns are masculine or feminine. Why are things feminine and masculine? Why?

Here are the Key Concepts we will cover in this lesson:

Nouns that end in -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, or -tud are feminine.

Nouns that end in -ista or -nte can be feminine or masculine depending on whether the subject is male or female.

Other:

Most nouns that end in -o are masculine (but some are feminine). And, there are many other masculine words that do not end in -o.

Most but not all nouns that end in -a are feminine.

I made 169 flashcards for Lesson 1. You can use them here in 4 different ways:as flashcards, to memorize, to test and for games on Cram.

Singular nouns that are feminine as prefaced with la.

Singular nouns that are masculine are prefaced with el.

Plural Nouns:

Masculine:

If the plural of a masculine noun ends in a vowel, we add -s and the definite article becomes los.

If the plural of a masculine noun ends in a consonant, we add -es and again the definite article becomes los.

Feminine:

If the plural of a feminine noun ends in a vowel, we add -s and the definite article becomes las.

If the plural of a femine noun ends in a consonant, we add -es and the definite article again becomes las.

The Indefinite Article:

The singular indefinte article (a, an) for masculine is un.

The singular indefinite article for feminine is una.

For male plural indefinte articles it is unos.

For female plural indefinite articles it is unas.

Adjectives:

In Spanish, the adjective agrees with the gender and number of the noun it modifies. The adjective almost always follows the noun it describes.

Adjectives that end in -o are masculine.

If paired with a feminine noun the -o changes to -a.

Adjectives that end in other letters (other than -o) stay the same for either masculine or feminine.

Add -s to an adjective that ends in a vowel to make it plural.

Add -es to an adjective that ends in a consonant to make it plural.

Did I mention the textbook has actual exercises? Yup, just like being back in school! Thee is homework!

For anyone considering this textbook. I would recommend spreading out Chapter 1/Lesson 1 over 2 days. It was a bit much with all the exercises for 1 day.

I hope this helps someone out there!

-Akiroq

Other resources:
Spanish Dictionary with video pronounciation guide
Alt codes for accents
Flashcards I made for Lesson 3
Flashcards I made for Lesson 2
Flashcards I made for Lesson 1
Lesson 3
Lesson 2
Lesson 1
Free flashcards that come with the textbook

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