1. Cognates

2. What are cognates?
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.

3. False Cognates
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.

4. Cognates Quiz
On your own paper, write what you think the following cognates mean:
1. diciembre activo
2. mapa turista
3. tomate artista
4. melón inteligente
5. animales acción
6. diccionario agosto
7. falso música
8. estudiante elefante
9. accidente historia
10. autógrafo pingüino

5. Cognates Quiz
Check your answers: 1. diciembre - December 11. activo - active 2. mapa - map 12. turista - tourist 3. tomate - tomato 13. artista - artist 4. melón - melon 14. inteligente - intelligent 5. animales - animals 15. acción - action 6. diccionario - dictionary 16. agosto – august 7. falso - false 17. música – music 8. estudiante - student 18. elefante – elephant 9. accidente - accident 19. historia – history 10. autógrafo - autograph 20. pingüino – penguin

6. False Cognates
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)

7. Look the same, pronounce differently
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.

8. Look the same, pronounce differently
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.

9. Words ending…
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

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

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

12. Words ending…
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

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