How to learn Spanish grammar

Learning Spanish can be challenging, and it sure is intimidating at first. You don’t know where to start, what to do first, or how much time you should spend, and everything seems difficult at the beginning. One of the main questions Spanish students are asking is “How to learn Spanish grammar?”. While Spanish grammar isn’t, particularly hard, there are precise grammar rules to learn, and you can’t excel in the language if you don’t learn them well.

Fortunately, there are many convenient ways to learn and practice Spanish grammar. For example, you can enroll in an online grammar course, engage a professional Spanish tutor or read Spanish books. Each of these methods has its benefits and drawbacks. You should find out which one suits your style best and start learning these tricky grammar rules as soon as you can. After all, Spanish grammar is like any other: it takes patience and practice.

Below, we’ve put together some ideas about how to learn Spanish grammar and increase your language proficiency with ease.

Spend the first three months perfecting the Present Tense

As with any other language, the present tense is the most used tense in the Spanish language. It’s essential for daily communication. All verbs can be used in the present tense, so it’s essential to learn them first. If you’re just starting, focus on learning the present tense and spend the first 2-3 months conjugating verbs in present. Start with the most common verbs: Hacer, Ir, Venir, Decir, etc. This will give you a strong base for understanding more complex tenses and verb conjugations.

Keep a Spanish Grammar Cheat Sheet

This is a very common technique to learn Spanish grammar. It involves keeping a Spanish grammar cheat sheet and referring to it when you read your lessons or listen to Spanish. This grammar cheat sheet can take different forms. It can be a notebook, a whiteboard, or simple paper sheets where you list all the grammar rules and definitions that you’ve learned so far.

The more you learn, the more grammar rules and exceptions you’ll need to know. With time, you may get confused. Keeping up a Spanish grammar cheat sheet will allow you to quickly find and refer to the grammar rules and the correct spelling when in doubt. Your grammar cheat sheet can list anything from useful Spanish grammar and spelling rules to punctuation tips and commonly misspelled words.

Keep your grammar cheat sheet next to you whenever you learn a new lesson, read a new text, or write in Spanish. Refer to this whenever you don’t understand, or have doubts about the grammar. After you’ve looked up the same grammar rule, spelling, or grammar exception a few times, you will surely remember it.

Learn Spanish grammar by reading more in Spanish

Reading has long been the best way to learn Spanish. This is because while reading, you process information visually and you easily make connections between spelling and writing. This is true for any foreign language, including Spanish.

Reading out loud every lesson you learn will also help you to make associations between new and old vocabulary. Reading also helps you learn new words and put them into context. For example, when you encounter a new Spanish word, add it to your vocabulary list and include the example sentence from the lesson.

Naturally, reading will also help you to expand your Spanish vocabulary fast.

Learn with the help of an experienced teacher

Having a Spanish teacher is one of the most convenient ways to learn Spanish grammar. It’s always more efficient to study grammar with a Spanish teacher instead of trying to memorize all grammar rules by yourself. That’s why some learners prefer to join a Spanish class. However, for some students, it’s difficult to find Spanish teachers or tutors in their area. For others, it’s inconvenient to go to class, especially if they are living in big cities with long commutes. Or, some students can only attend evenings or weekends Spanish classes.

If you don’t have the possibility to join a Spanish class nearby, don’t worry. You can always learn Spanish with a teacher online. Working with an online Spanish teacher will be very useful when you study Spanish grammar because they can recommend grammar lessons, homework, or an entire learning plan focused on Spanish grammar. Before approaching a Spanish teacher, consider spending a few weeks or even months studying beginner Spanish and learning a few grammar rules and phrases.

When you feel comfortable with these, you could start working with a teacher, and you’ll be well on your way to building up and improving your grammar with their help. Spanish grammar is not a complicated subject if you learn it from a good Spanish teacher.

Write regularly about your day and translate it into Spanish

This is a simple method that will help you learn the basics of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. This technique can be applied to any language. The goal is to write daily about your day, translate it into Spanish, and discuss your translation in class with your private Spanish teacher or double-check it on Google Translate. If there are any mistakes in your work, you should go back and correct your copy until it is flawless.

This technique will help you to get more comfortable with the Spanish language and its grammar rules. As mentioned, you can apply this technique no matter whether you study with a teacher or on your own. There are many mobile apps that help students to translate entire texts.

With the help of a professional Spanish tutor, you will learn how to avoid grammar and spelling mistakes.

Learn which connectives match which grammar constructions

The simplest way to learn Spanish grammar is by learning how grammar constructions function in Spanish. This way of learning is more effective when you begin by connecting Spanish grammatical structures using the right connectives.

Connectives (also called conjunctions) are used to connect words within a sentence, and they are generally used to indicate different purposes, such as. addition, sequence, consequence, contrast, etc. Some examples of connectives in English are Because, Since, Provided, Therefore, etc.

Exactly like in English, in the Spanish language, conjunctions are very important for constructing sentences. Often, conjunctions are part of specific grammar constructions, and they have to be used in the right way. That’s why it’s essential to learn Spanish grammar constructions and connectives at the same time. Learn which connectives go with which constructions to avoid some common grammar mistakes.

Conclusion

Some of the most common mistakes that Spanish learners make are not conjugating verbs, improperly using tenses, or incorrectly matching pronouns with their antecedents. No matter if you are learning Spanish online, on your own or with the help of a Spanish tutor, learning grammar is the key to becoming a fluent Spanish speaker. It is a very important skill you need to work on if you want to master the language and speak it fluently. It is easy to learn Spanish grammar from books and follow your lessons, but it is also essential to learn and discuss grammar rules with a professional Spanish tutor or a teacher.

If you are still unsure how to learn Spanish grammar or you would like to learn Spanish online and from a professional Teacher, consider booking a trial class on italki with one of our experienced Spanish teachers. This may be the only step that is still stopping you from learning Spanish fluently.