You will need constantly to refer back and forth between the two parts of the book,
and so there are a lot of cross-references between them indicated in the text or by arrows
in the margin. Do not be content with consulting just one section, therefore, but follow
up the cross-references given – that way you will understand both the structures of
Spanish and the way in which they are used. There is also an index of words and
topics so that you can find information again quickly and easily.Third person verbs, pronouns and possessive adjectives are often potentially
ambiguous in Spanish: an extreme case is su, which can mean ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘your’,
‘its’ or ‘their’. In this book we have given the most likely translation for examples
rather than the full range of options which are theoretically possible.We have not hesitated to use traditional grammatical terms, especially in the
Structures part. It is worth spending a little time getting to grips with these:
understanding the terms will help you understand the structures better, even if they
may appear a bit daunting at first. We have described terms with which you are likely
to be unfamiliar in the Glossary.The following abbreviations and symbols have been used:
App. Appendix
esp. especially
fam. familiar
f. feminine
ger. gerund
inf. infinitive
L. Am. Latin America
lit. literally
m. masculine
p.p. past participle
pers. person
pl. plural
pol. polite
R. Pl. River Plate
sg. singular
* denotes that the grammatical
construction is unacceptable in
Spanish
We hope that readers will find our approach interesting and useful: we will be delighted
to receive opinions on the book and details about the ways in which it has been used in
teaching and learning Spanish.Juan Kattán-Ibarra
Christopher J. Pountain
December 1995xviii
INTRODUCTION