Cognates

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.
 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.
 On your own paper, write what you think
the following cognates mean:

1. diciembre 11. activo

2. mapa 12. turista
3. tomate 13. artista
4. melón 14. inteligente
5. animales 15. acción
6. diccionario 16. agosto
Cognates Quiz 7. falso 17. música
8. estudiante 18. elefante
9. accidente 19. historia
10. autógrafo 20. pingüino
 1. diciembre - December
2. mapa - map
3. tomate - tomato
4. melón - melon
5. animales - animals
6. diccionario - dictionary
7. falso - false
8. estudiante - student
9. accidente - accident
10. autógrafo - autograph
11. activo - active
12. turista - tourist
Check your answers 13. artista - artist
14. inteligente - intelligent
15. acción - action
16. agosto – august
17. música – music
18. elefante – elephant
19. historia – history
20. pingüino – penguin
 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)
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.
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.
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
Words ending…
• If an English word ends in “ty” generally change it to “dad.”
• electricidad – electricity
• universidad – university
• identidad – identity
• actividad – activity
• curiosidad - curiosity
Words ending…
• If an English word ends in "tion" generally change it to "ción".
• acción – action
• instrucción – instruction
• condición – condition
• combinación – combination
• asociación - association
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
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