Cognates

Martes 20 de Septiembre

Improve your Spanish vocabulary for free, yes you heard me.... for a short time only I will be offering you nearly 4000 words ........for absolutely nothing, all you have to do is follow these few simple steps.......

OBJECTIVE: To analyse Spanish – English cognates to help BOOST vocabulary

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.

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, takes thousands of Latin words, 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.

Let’s try some out........Spanish words that end in -a, -o or -e very often have an equivalent in English. Simply drop or change the last vowel.

mapa

aire

caso

causa

costo

creativo

credito dieta

drama

favoritofigura

forma guitarra

líquido

lista

lista

medicinapersona

Words that end in -ary in English very often have a Spanish cognate that ends in -ario

vocabulario

aniversario

diccionario disciplinario

itinerario

literario

necesarioordinario

salario

English words that end in -ic usually have a Spanish cognate that simply adds an -o.

sarcástico

romántico

patriótico

Atlántico

automático

democrático didáctico

escolástico

fanático gimnástico

linguístico

lunático

optimístico

fantástico

Like the previous category, English words that end in -ical have a Spanish cognate that ends in -ico.

cómicoclásico

técnico

sicológico (psychological)

práctico

político

periódico (newspaper,periodical)

metódico

histérico

físico

eléctrico

English words that end in -ent often have a cognate in Spanish that ends in -ente. These words are usually adjectives.

agente

Words that end in -ment in English have equivalents in Spanish that simply add an -o. These words are nouns.

sentimiento (sentiment)

suficiente

potentepatente

inteligenteindiferente

equivalentediferente

cliente

testamentosuplemento

argumentoargumento

sacramento

English words that end in -or often have a Spanish cognate that is identical.

actor

English words that end in -ist often have a Spanish cognate.

artista

profesor

error

motor

humor

doctor

director

color autor (author)

recepcionista

turista

pianista

moralista

florista

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

Words that in 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

English words that end in -ent often have a cognate in Spanish that ends in -ente. These words are usually adjectives.

Some English words that end in -ous have a Spanish cognate that ends in -oso.

English words that end in -ence or -ance often have a Spanish cognate that ends in -encia or -ancia

There are many Spanish cognates that end in -ción. 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.

acción degeneración

administración descripción

admiración eliminación

animación experimentación

aplicación información

asociación investigación

atención organización

celebración representación

combinación transformación

concentración transportación

contaminación vegetación

creación vocación

words that end in- mente (as opposed to just -ente). They usually have an English cognate that ends in -ly. These are adverbs.

Words that end in -al in both English and Spanish are often cognates

-ant (or sometimes -ent)words in English sometimes end in -ante in Spanish.