1. Recognizing Spanish/English Cognates

2. You can learn Spanish cognates by learning a few simple rules and applying them to your existing knowledge of English.
In this way you can quickly expand your Spanish vocabulary.

3. What are cognates?
Simply put, they are words that exist in two languages that are spelled exactly or almost exactly the same way and have the same meaning.
This makes it easier to learn much of the vocabulary of another language.
You simply use your knowledge of English vocabulary and apply the rules that determine the spelling change between the two languages.

4. Spanish is a language that evolved from Latin over the last two thousand years.
English, although it is not as closely related to Latin as Spanish, borrows thousands of words from Latin, many of them the same words that Spanish uses.
In addition, both languages have borrowed many words from Classical Greek.
This results in thousands of cognates between English and Spanish. This helps to give us a leg up in learning Spanish vocabulary.

5. Los amigos falsos
While some of the words with a common origin in Latin have different meanings in the two languages (these are called false cognates), the vast majority of them, 90% or more, have a similar enough meaning to be useful to us as we learn Spanish. 

6. Spelling
As you learn Spanish cognates, notice that many of these words also have a slightly different spelling from English, to conform to the rules of Spanish, and the pronunciation is almost always a little different.

7. Words that end in -a, -o, or -e very often drop or change this last vowel in English.
Example - the Spanish word 'forma' simply drops the -a to become 'form' in English, but for 'positivo' we must change the -o to -e.
This is easy to do when looking at the Spanish word, but the reverse is a little trickier.
When looking at an English word, we don't necessarily know the gender of the Spanish cognate.
When you learn the Spanish word, learn the gender with it. Knowing cognates is a quick shortcut, but it doesn't cover all the bases.

8. Watch out for some internal spelling changes.
For instance, in Spanish double consonants like -tt, -nn and -mm are much more rare than in English.
And the -rr is a different letter in Spanish - it is the highly trilled or rolled erre not the slightly trilled or tapped ere.
The -cc is like in English 'accent' - the first c is hard like k and the second is soft like s. It is never like 'accumulate' where there is no soft s sound, which would be spelled with just one c.

9. The h sound is always silent in Spanish, and where it occurs in English words it often disappears in Spanish.
There is no th in Spanish, the h is usually dropped and it is spelled and pronounced as just a t.
Words that start with st or sp in English often have a Spanish cognate with an added e in front. For example 'estado' equals English 'state'. 

10. Many words in English have nearly identical Spanish cognates
Many words in English have nearly identical Spanish cognates. Only the pronunciation is different and, at most, a very little spelling change.
antena área auto cañón chocolate conclusión cónsul familiar gala hotel
idea melón millón plaza radio regular religión similar teléfono villa

11. Spanish words that end in -a, -o or -e very often have an equivalent in English. Simply drop or change the last vowel.
aire atleta (athlete) caso causa costo creativo credito dieta drama estado estilo (style) favorito figura forma grande (big) guitarra
líquido lista mapa medicina minuto mucho nota objetivo parte persona poeta portero positivo producto práctica (practice)
puro quieto rápido rosa (rose) tubo (tube) uso (use) víctima visita

12. Many Spanish words that end in -ma are irregular in that they are masculine in gender, even though they end in the usually feminine -a.
clima (climate) diagrama idioma (idiom,language) problema programa sistema (system) tema (theme)

13. There are many Spanish cognates that end in -cion
There are many Spanish cognates that end in -cion. The equivalent English word ends in -tion. Note that all of these words have the stress on the final syllable. Also, all of these words are feminine in gender.

14. asociación atención atracción autenticación autorización automatización aviación celebración cesación circulación civilización clasificación colaboración combinación comendación comunicación
+many, many more
abreviación abdicación acción aclamación acumulación administración admiración adoración afirmación aglomeración agitación alegación animación anticipación aplicación asimilación

15. Words that end in -ary in English very often have a Spanish cognate that ends in -ario.
aniversario diccionario disciplinario itinerario literario necesario ordinario salario vocabulario

16. Words that end in -dad are quite common in Spanish
Words that end in -dad are quite common in Spanish. They usually correspond to an English word that ends in -ty. All of these words are feminine in gender.
autoridad (authority) ciudad (city) comunidad dificultad enfermedad (infirmity, illness) formalidad
necesidad prosperidad publicidad universidad velocidad

17. English words that end in -ic usually have a Spanish cognate that simply add an -o.
Atlántico automático democrático didáctico escolástico fanático gimnástico
linguístico lunático optimístico patriótico romántico sarcástico

18. Like the previous category, English words that end in -ical have a Spanish cognate that ends in -ico.
clásico cómico eléctrico físico histérico metódico
periódico (newspaper,periodical) político práctico sicológico (psychological) técnico

19. English words that end in -ent often have a cognate in Spanish that ends in -ente. These words are usually adjectives.
agente cliente diferente equivalente indiferente
inteligente patente  potente suficiente

20. Be careful with Spanish words that end in- mente (as opposed to just -ente). They usually have an English cognate that ends in -ly. These are adverbs.
afortunadamente (fortunately) correctamente desafortunadamente (unfortunately) especialmente exactamente finalmente
generalmente moralmente naturalmente obviamente (obviously) rapidamente

21. Words that end in -ment in English have equivalents in Spanish that simply add an -o. These words are nouns.
argumento monumento sacramento
sentimiento (sentiment) suplemento testamento

22. Words that end in -al in both English and Spanish are often cognates.
animal anual capital central comercial especial general hospital intelectual
local ocasional oficial original personal profesional total usual

23. English words that end in -ence or -ance often have a Spanish cognate that ends in -encia or -ancia.
abundancia ausencia (absence) circunstancia conciencia diferencia distancia
experiencia importancia instancia obediencia permanencia tolerancia

24. -ant (or sometimes -ent)words in English sometimes end in -ante in Spanish.
abundante constante elegante estudiante
importante restaurante significante

25. Some English words that end in -ous have a Spanish cognate that ends in -oso.
ambicioso curioso delicioso famoso glorioso
gracioso ingenioso laborioso numeroso religioso

26. English words with the ending -y sometimes have an equivalent in Spanish with the ending -ia or -io.
aristocracia compañía (company) democracia eficacia familia farmacia (pharmacy) historia
misterio remedio secretaria sicologia (psychology) urgencia

27. English words that end in -or often have a Spanish cognate that is identical.
actor autor (author) color director doctor
humor motor error profesor

28. English words that end in -ist often have a Spanish cognate.
artista dentista florista moralista pianista turista recepcionista