6.1 Cognates and Expanding Vocabulary
Group 1. Cognates that have exactly the same spelling and meaning as their English equivalents.
- doctor
- mosquito
- natural
- terrible
- hospital
- real
- humor
- musical
- idea
- banana
- horrible
- fatal
- cruel
- chocolate
- animal
- popular
- regular
- hotel
- ideal
- sentimental
Group 2. Cognates that have only minor differences with the spelling of their English equivalents.
A. When the difference is a written accent or stress mark (tilde):
- Religión
- televisión
- región
- sofá
- Canadá
- visión
- América
B. When the difference consists of the addition of a final vowel:
- arte
- novela
- dentista
- romanticismo
- importante
- correcto
- bomba
- rancho
- restaurante
- elegante
- persona
- presidente
Group 3. Cognates that follow a predictable pattern with the use of suffixes.
A. Spanish nouns ending in -ción and –sión have English counterparts ending in -tion and -sion.
- participación
- rendición
- operación
- televisión
- conclusión
- conversación
- autorización
- mutación
- explosión
- extensión
B. Spanish nouns ending in -dad have English counterparts ending in -ty.
- Universidad
- popularidad
- curiosidad
- actividad
- autoridad
- realidad
C. Spanish nouns that begin with the prefix es- plus a consonant, many times correspond to English workd that being with a single letter s plus a consonant.
- España
- esnob
- estúpido
- especial
- espectacular
D. In Spanish, there are cases when words take a double consonant. This only appears in the cases of cc, rr, ll, and nn and they reflect English words of the same meaning and origin.
Let’s remember that in Spanish the double l (ll) and the double r (rr) are separate letters of the alphabet. The double n only occurs when the prefix in- (equivalent of the English -un) is added to a word that begins with n: innecesario – unnecessary.
For this reason, many words in Spanish appear with a single consonant, where their English equivalents have a double consonant:
- Posible
- profesor
- comercial
- dólar
- tenis
- atención
- clase
E. The Spanish ending -oso is often the equivalent of the English ending -ous.
- numeroso
- maravilloso
- amoroso
- famoso
- generoso
- malicioso
- curioso
- ambicioso
F. The Spanish ending -mente often equals the English ending -ly.
- generalmente
- rápidamente
- posiblemente
- personalmente
- normalmente
- finalmente
G. Some cognates do not follow a specific pattern but present spelling changes. However, the root origin is clearly identified for both languages and the word equivalent is immediately recognized.
- elefante
- tigre
- Francia
- fotografía
- actriz
- examen
- Japón
- teléfono
- patata
- danza
- automóvil
- limón
H. Finally, some Spanish words are directly borrowed from English and the source word is immediately recognized.
- hamburguesa -> hamburger
- suéter -> sweater
- fútbol -> football
- béisbol -> baseball
- rosbif -> roast beef
Practícalo
Text Description
Instructions: Identify the cognates in the sentence “Los conciertos de música tradicional en noviembre y diciembre van a ser en el estadio de fútbol de Bilbao”.
Answers:
- conciertos
- música
- tradicional
- noviembre
- diciembre
- estadio
- fútbol
Activity 2: Identifying concepts
Text Description
Questions:
- El teléfono está en la mesa. _____
- Juan está en la clase de español. _____
- Nosotros estamos ocupados. _____
- Francisco está enfermo. _____
- Los doctores están cansados. _____
- Pablo está en la cafeteria. _____
Possible answers:
- temporary location
- temporary physical/mental state
Answers:
- temporary location
- temporary location
- temporary physical/mental state
- temporary physical/mental state
- temporary physical/mental state
- temporary location
