 Cognates are words in two languages that have a common development and thus are similar or identical in their meanings.  For example, without knowing any Spanish you could guess that the word apartamento means apartment in English.  This does not mean that you can simply and an “o” or “a” to the end of any English word and make it Spanish.

 There are also false cognates. These are words that look like words in English, but have no common meaning.  For example, the Spanish word carpeta does not mean carpet in English, instead it means folder.

 On your own paper, write what you think the following cognates mean: 1. diciembre11. activo 2. mapa12. turista 3. tomate13. artista 4. melón14. inteligente 5. animales15. acción 6. diccionario16. agosto 7. falso17. música 8. estudiante18. elefante 9. accidente19. historia 10. autógrafo 20. pingüino

 Some Spanish words look like English words but they have a very different meaning. These words are called false cognates. Here are a few examples :  actual - current (NOT actual)  asistir - to attend (NOT to assist)  largo - long (NOT large)  embarazada - pregnant (NOT embarrassed)  la fábrica - factory (NOT fabric)  la librería - bookstore (NOT library)  exito – success (NOT exit)

 Some Spanish words look exactly the same as they do in English, but you must pronounce them differently because you are speaking in Spanish (obviously).  For example, the word doctor is the same in English and in Spanish, but must be pronounced differently because vowels make different sounds in Spanish than they do in English.

 Here are more words that are spelled exactly the same in Spanish and English but are pronounced differently:  Animal, actor, hotel, color, director, general, hospital and moral  There are several more, these are just a few examples.

 If an English word ends in “ist” the Spanish rule is to generally add “ista” to the end of it.  turista – tourist  socialista – socialist  egoísta – egoist  artista – artist  lista - list

 If an English word ends in “ty” generally change it to “dad.”  electricidad – electricity  universidad – university  identidad – identity  actividad – activity  curiosidad - curiosity

 If an English word ends in "tion" generally change it to "ción".  acción – action  instrucción – instruction  condición – condition  combinación – combination  asociación - association

 If an English word ends in "al" some of the time the Spanish word is identical.  criminal – criminal  natural – natural  usual – usual  brutal – brutal  local - local

 For adverbs, which end in “ly” you change it to "mente".  difícilmente – difficultly  exactamente – exactly  naturalmente – naturally  finalmente – finally  normalmente – normally  absolutamente - absolutely