Rating: 
Summary: A viable resource
Review: This book has helped me tremendously in learning Spanish. Having learned a plethora of vocab, I found myself somewhat stalled in my ability to actually coelesce sentences and make coherent sense. The first chapter in regular ar, er, and ir verb conjugations alone proves worth the reasonable price. This is a big workbook of sorts that has plenty of space for you to write in your responses in the exercises(which come early and often) and makes for an easy and effective learning tool. I also am learning useful vocab along the way as I learn the verbs. I am very impressed with this book and recommend it highly to those who want to learn Spanish quickly on their own.
Rating:
Summary: Conjugate your life away...
Review: I would not have learned what I know about Spanish verbs if I hadn't bought this book. The price is almost embarassingly low, and the amount of information you get for your money is astounding. This book will help with reading comprehension and writing of Spanish. All of the verb tenses are covered, and accompanied by exercises that solidly reinforce the material. All you need to do is sit down with a pencil or pen, start reading and then start writing. The exercises are designed to reinforce your learning, and you'll be surprised how much you retain from completing them. I am almost completely self-taught (I had some help from some native speakers with conversation), and this book was a part of my language-learning arsenal that helped me more than get by with Spanish in South America and Spain. LIttle by little the book goes through the various Spanish verb tenses starting with the present (hablo, hablas, etc). Before that the book goes over some basics like pronouns to provide a foundation (yo, te, me, elle, etc.). From there the book goes on to cover every Spanish verb tense I've ever heard of, including an elucidating few chapters on the subjunctive. You can literally start with almost no knowledge of Spanish. The book will not help you with speaking, however, nor will it teach you everything. Believe the words on the cover: this book is about verbs. Verb conjugation may not be the most exciting thing humans have come up with, but this book almost makes conjugation fun (did I say that? No, not me, must have been someone else). You certainly can't go wrong for the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Critique of Spanish Verb Tenses
Review: Verbs are the heart of any language. If you want to become knowledgable and facil at not only conjugting verbs but understanding the contextual usage and rules governing the uses of the verbs, then this is the book for you. I think that anyone interested in studying Spanish, especially if they want to study it on their own, should have this workbook as part of their repertoire. I have found it invaluable. I recommend it highly. (I have also purchased and studied Richmond's Pronouns and Preposition workbook and the reviews are similar.) I have given the book a 4 star rating rather than five for the following reasons: 1. Lack of an index: (The same is true of the Pronouns and Preposition workbook.) I find it hard to comprehend how a contemporary academic book can be published without an index. There is a tremendous amount of valuable information contained in this book but being limited to the Table of Contents or to ones memory of where a specific item can be found is debilitating. This is a terrible ommission. 2. After studying the book thoroughly twice, my workbook is riddled with tabs and annotations in search of clarifications. A bit of addtional clarification and some additional examples before the author goes off into the exercises would potentially eliminate a considerable amount of confusion. The sections on Ser and Estar are a good example. It appears that sufficient explanaions are provided in the book (in the section on Ser for exaple) until one delves into further exercises in subsequent chapters of the book. There, knowledge of the full use of "Ser" is assumed, but referencing back to the original chapeter on "Ser" leaves one empty handed (in some but not all cases) as to why "Ser" was used rather than "Estar." This might seem picayune until one looks back on the total number of questions raised throughout the book. It is understandable that the author cannot anticipate all possible questions and points of confusion, but a bit more explanation and the use of additional examples would greatly amplify and clarify the grammatical content. 3. The student would also benefit greatly by having additional exercises in the book that mix and match what is learned in previous chapters (This is done is a few limited cases.) It is all too easy as an exercise to answer questions and translate text that directly follows the material being presented, for it is customed tailored to the points being made in that exercise. Addtional end of chapter exercise combining all that has been learned would be a valued addition. With that said, let me also add that the translation paragraphs at the end of each section (as humorous and as enjoyable as they are to translate) somewhat satisfy this contention, but not fully.
Rating:
Summary: May be drill and kill; there are no shortcuts to learning
Review: This book reminds me of the way my HS teacher of 4 years taught Spanish. It was "kill and drill" all the way, but it worked and I got a great foundation of the basics (this is 1975 to 1979, mind you), which has allowed me to, in the past 6 mos., begin my studies anew "independientemene," without feeling lost. "Kill and drill" may be an anathman to the current zeitgeist in education, which stresses something called a "wholistic approach," but it is a method that has been tried and true. It's not as sexy as some of the present day modes of educating, but it works. This book will lay a very, very strong foundation to the beginner, as well as "fill in the blanks" for the intermediate and advanced learner. The author uses a no-nonsense approach, which means she eschews excessive comment, as well as comments that are not germane to learning how to process/use verbs, and she sticks to the basics- Verb ending for all tenses, and proper usage. You can't go wrong with an approach like that. She also does a masterful job with irregular verbs, which is the bug-a-boo for all learners, beginners and advanced alike. If the companion book on Spanish Grammar is as good as this book, together they will make a "deadly combination;" one that will put the learner well on their way to the proverbial "next level."
Rating:
Summary: A Spanglish Speaker Can Learn From This Book
Review: I've tried for years to grasp Spanish without success. Now I'm taking Beginning Spanish at the local college. The second class I was ready to drop, because it didn't seem like beginner level to me. The instructor convinced me to continue. The textbook is so difficult that I decided to buy some other help. This book saved me from dropping a class that had already cost me nearly $200. This was the best $10 I spent on supplies. If I can learn from this book, ANYONE can learn from it!
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best verb book
Review: What more can be said? I have taken many classes, immersed myself in Mexico and lived in Bolivia, and without a doubt, this book has been the best tool I have ever seen for learning the complex verb conjugations of the Spanish language!
Rating:
Summary: A perfect score for this book
Review: This book is very well written. It is so clear, comprehensive and enjoyable to read that it makes the task of learning verbs like eating ice cream. CD versions of all the exercises/answers contained in the book (preferably one without the corresponding English translation, and another without), linked to the different sections of the written material, would be a perfect complement for this book. With bargain pricing (like how this book is unbelieavably priced), I bet most if not all of Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone fans would buy the CD complementary version of the book in a snap.
Rating:
Summary: lifesaver
Review: I began working as a teacher at a school where many students and parents don't speak English. I poured over this book and its companion, Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions to review the Spanish I took in college and in high school (and hadn't had in several years). Within three months of review I took my state's Spanish Profiency Test for teachers and passed. I don't think I could have done it with out reviewing with these books. THe other review books I had were too long and drawn out. The instructions in the Practice Makes Perfect books were simple and clear and provided the ample practice problems I was looking for.
Rating:
Summary: You will learn your verbs, guaranteed
Review: All reviewers praise this book, and so will I. It is really very good: clearly structured into chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of Spanish verb tenses. Very easy-to-understand explanations throughout the book (the explanation of when to use "ser" and when "estar" is priceless!), lots of exercises that will test your comprehension of the covered material. I bought the book about 7 weeks before an important Spanish test I had to take as part of my job application. Although I did not have time to go through the whole book, I was still able to review the most important parts of the Spanish verb structures; and it really made a difference! (I learned Spanish 10 years ago but never used it since then.) If you look for either a review material or for a book that will teach you the tricky Spanish tenses, buy this one. It's more than worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Though I spent 5 weeks at Tec de Monterrey in MX learning Spanish, I am now learning mostly on my own. I have several college-level textbooks, but this book, by far, is helping me understand verbs more than any other process, including living and using the language daily. Used with other resources (a dictionary, etc), a person can really get a solid sense of the different conjugations, regular and irregular. The authors are correct, the verb is the "engine" of a sentence. General vocabulary will get you only so far. For basic conversation, you need the verbs, and you need to know multiple tenses. Even knowing the irregulars is not as important as being able, at the least, to switch from past to present to future to conditional. If you mess up an irregular, but use the right tense you want, a native speaker will understand you well enough. And, when you misunderstand their use of an irregular, you'll have enough knowledge to be able to ask about it and understand their explanation. And, that, ultimately is how you learn a language. Not though perfect speech, but rather through a process and tools that help you get through the rough and tricky spots. This book is that... a great tool! I'm getting ready to head to Puerto Rico this summer and feel exceptionally confident my continued study of this book will influence my ability and confidence greatly when it comes to actually talking with native speakers. Also, I like this book so much that I'm purchasing Richmond and Devney's similar "Pronoun and Preposition" book. I only wish they had about 6 more of these kinds of workbooks.
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