past particles

Hola a todas Is there some one on this forum that could explain to me what a past particle is.? Or maybe direct me to a website that explains it very well, so this gringo can understand what it means. :) Gracias mil Cathy

Hi, Cathy. There probably are websites that will offer explanations, but I don't know any well enough to recommend one. However, I've heard a number of people praise the following paperback book, which is available at amazon.com and other places as well. It's called *English Grammar for Students of Spanish*. The author is Emily Spinelli. Since I had a good grounding in English grammar at school, I have never actually used the book, but I know people who have. If you go to the listing at Amazon.com, you can even "look inside the book" (as well as read reviews). You can find the listing in Amazon here: *__http://tinyurl.com/2efz77l__*. That may help you decide if it's a book you'd find useful. Certainly if you're going to continue to study Spanish, you're going to need to know a fair amount about English grammar, so you can understand explanations of how things work in Spanish.

Thanks I will look into that. I have the book called 501 verbs and it's a great book to use. Thanks again for your suggestion Mil gracias nohablo Cathy :D

De nada, Cathy. Fue un placer. I have a book similar to 501 verbs, and it's very useful, but it doesn't provide the more detailed help with grammar that I think you're looking for. That's what I think you might get from English Grammar for Students of Spanish, but I can't be sure, since I've never used it. (EDIT: I've changed this message to reflect what I should have written.) Buena suerte.

Hola Nohablo I am now taking your suggestion and buying this book. Do you use it like a dictionary? :lol: I'm not quite sure just what kind of book this is. Muchas gracias de nuevo Cathy24

Hi, Cathy. I see that my brain's wires must have been crossed when I sent my last message. There, I mentioned Búscalo, whereas in my initial recommendation I talked about *English Grammar for Students of Spanish*. Duh. :oops: Perhaps I'll go back and change the message mentioning Búscalo. Though I own and love *Búscalo: A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage*, your first message makes me think that you need a book that explains _English_ grammar in more detail than Búscalo does. That's why I recommended *English Grammar for Students of Spanish*. But I can't tell you anything more about it, since I've never used it. I've known people who like it a lot, and it gets very good reviews on Amazon, so I thought I'd let you know about it, since it seems as if it would be very helpful to you. I suspect that you could use it more or less like a dictionary or encyclopedia, just looking up and reading about the grammar terms you want to understand. You can get a little idea of what it's like by clicking on the "Look Inside the Book" feature in its listing on Amazon.com. At some point, you may decide that you also want Búscalo. It offers lots of clear, concise information about Spanish grammar. I use it a lot. However, though Búscalo does not throw a lot of technical jargon at you, I think you need to know English grammar a little better than you do now to make the best use of it. I hope this helps.