AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO SPANISH CONVERSATION
Reading edition
CONTAINING
ALL THAT IS NECESSARY TO MAKE A RAPID PROGRESS IN IT.
PARTICULARLY DESIGNED
FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE LITTLE TIME TO STUDY,
OR ARE THEIR OWN INSTRUCTORS.
By M. VELAZQUEZ DE LA CADENA,
PROFESSOR OF THE SPANISH; EDITOR OF OLLENDORFF’S SPANISH GRAMMAR, NEW SPANISH READER, ETC. ETC.
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, By D. APPLETON & COMPANY, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
PREFACE.
Multum in parvo is the object of this small book; in which the student will find all the elements necessary to enable him in a very short time to enter into a conversation on the most usual topics.
For this purpose, and in order that he may understand the questions put, or the answers given to him, should they be expressed in words different in tense or number from those contained in the dialogues, and also to afford him the best means to vary them himself, it has been deemed expedient to prefix to the vocabularies a synopsis of the Spanish language. The learner is earnestly desired to study it attentively, so as to become perfectly familiar with the conjugation of the verbs; a thorough knowledge of which will render his progress easy, sure, and speedy.
Persons unaccustomed to commit tasks to memory, will do well to begin by learning daily a set number (say five) of nouns, adjectives, or verbs, and as many phrases as they can remember well; repeating always the English before the Spanish. Such exercise being steadily pursued for a month, the student will have acquired an aggregate of more than five hundred of the words most frequently used in common intercourse. This plan has been often tried, and its results have constantly exceeded the most sanguine expectations.
Should the student wish to acquire a thorough knowledge of the Spanish, even without the assistance of a teacher, he may do so by studying Ollendorff’s New Method, by M. Velazquez and T. Simonné, published by D. Appleton & Co., No. 443 Broadway.
This work will also be found very useful for the younger classes of learners, as an introduction to Ollendorff, or any other Spanish grammar, as it contains in a few pages, and exhibits in the plainest manner, the elements necessary to enable them to make a very easy and rapid progress in the study of this language.
New York, June 1st, 1849.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
A SYNOPSIS, ETC.
PAGE
The Letters 7
Accent 10
Noun—Number ib.
Gender ib.
Case 11
Augmentative and Diminutive Nouns ib.
Adjectives 12
Comparative ib.
Superlative 13
Pronouns 14
Verbs 16
Conjugation—Simple Tenses 17
“ Compound Tenses 23
Auxiliary Verbs 25
Idiomatical Tenses 27
Place of the Pronouns 28
Verbs affirmatively and negatively conjugated ib.
Passive Verbs ib.
Pronominal Verbs 29
Gerund 30
Verbs that alter their radical letters 31
Remarks on the Subjunctive ib.
Participle 32
Verbs that have two Participles ib.
Adverbs 33
Prepositions 34
Conjunctions 35
Interjections 36
Abbreviations ib.
PART II.
A VOCABULARY, ETC.
The Numbers 37
Moneda corriente 39
Of Heaven and the Elements 40
The Weather and Seasons ib.
Days of the Week and Months 41
Holy Days ib.
Ecclesiastical Dignities ib.
Eatables 42
Covering of the Table ib.
For Fast Days—Fish 44
For the Dessert ib.
Conditions of Man and Woman 46
Clothes and Articles for Dressing ib.
Articles for Riding 47
Clothes for Ladies ib.
Parts of the Human Body 48
The Five Senses—Ages 49
Qualities of the Body ib.
Defects of the Body 50
Studying ib.
Musical Instruments ib.
Parts and Furniture of a House 51
What is found about the Chimney, in the Kitchen,
and in the Cellar 52
The Servants of a House 53
What is found in and about the Door,
and in the Stable 54
The Garden—Flowers, Trees, &c. 54
Temporal Dignities 55
Officers of War—The Army 56
Fortifications ib.
Professions and Trades 57
Defects and Imperfections 58
Good Qualities—Diseases ib.
Bird and Quadrupeds 59
The Country—The City 60
Colors—Metals 61
Commercial Terms ib.
Collection of Verbs 63
PART III.
DIALOGUES.
I. Saluting, &c. 69
II. To pay a Visit 70
III. To dress one’s self 71
IV. The Tailor 72
V. To breakfast 73
VI. To speak Spanish 74
VII. Of the Weather 75
VIII. To write 76
IX. To buy 78
X. To inquire after News 79
XI. To inquire after any one 82
XII. For a journey 83
XIII. Supper and Lodgings 85
XIV. To reckon with the Landlord 86
XV. On a Voyage by Sea 87
XVI. On board of a Vessel 89
XVII. On a Journey in a Litter, or on Mules 90
XVIII. At the Dinner Table 92
PART IV.
COMMERCIAL LETTERS, ETC.
First Letter 95
Second Letter 96
An Invoice 97
Third and Fourth Letters 98
Letter of Recommendation 99
A Draft ib.
Endorsement 100
Notes ib.
EASY INTRODUCTION
TO
SPANISH CONVERSATION.