Grammar - do I need it?

Well, look, put it this way - if you're serious about learning the language you're going to learn the grammar one way or another, whether you like it or not! There are two main ways of doing this:

1) Go to a Spanish-speaking country and live there for several years. Ideally, go while you're still a child, have fewer responsibilities, and maximum language-learning potential. This way you will ideally "absorb" grammatical structures without having to struggle with them consciously too much. While this "absorbsion" method can seem really appealing to a lazy-bones like myself, it does still take quite a lot of commitment and is generally very frustrating for grown-ups, who will tend to want to cut the crap by being more analytical with what people are saying: "...but why do you say it like that?!"

2) Accept that you're a big boy or girl now and get someone to tell you what nouns, verbs and adjectives are. While you're at it, get them to run over verb conjugations, tenses and adjectival agreement. That should do to get you started. Sorry for being patronising, but I guess if this question is being asked then we're starting at the start...
Now look, this stuff isn't difficult, so if your tutor, book or whatever doesn't explain it in a way you can understand, fire them and get another one.
Maybe I should try to explain it... but the thing is I don't know you or where you're coming from so I don't know how best to explain it to ya - point is, if you know English at any reasonable level, then you've got the basic concepts in place. That means you can do it in Spanish, too.

Understanding the grammar is the short-cut. Instead of spending your childhood in Spain, you can stay here, get on with your work, look after your family and spend a few minutes here and there sorting out your Spanish. Once you learn the words, the grammar will help you put them together so you can express whatever you want; much better than sticking with rote phrasebook sentences.


Maybe you'll feel like it's going slowly sometimes - hey, you've plenty of time. Sign up for an exam to prove to yourself how well you're doing!

That said, next post will be about how grammar doesn't really matter that much after all!

¡Hasta luego!