6.1 Cognates and Expanding Vocabulary

As we pointed out in one of the sections on Phonetics, many Spanish and English words have the same Latin root. These words, also known as cognates, are similar or identical in form and meaning. Learning to recognize and use cognates can help you identify unfamiliar words and phrases and recognize the general idea of a text when reading. It can also be a source of motivation and encouragement to learn more vocabulary as you study Spanish. I invite you to explore the following groups of cognates:

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 suéter fútbol béisbol rosbif
(hamburger) (sweater) (football) (baseball) (roast beef)

Practícalo

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