Do you want to learn hundreds of new Spanish words in minutes? This is quite possible, and actually very easy. The only thing you have to do is identify cognates in Spanish, apply a few rules and start using all this new vocabulary. But first of all, do you know what is a cognate? This is what we are going to learn in today’s post.
What are cognates
Cognates are words from two languages that are the same or similar. As English borrows many words from Latin there are hundreds of English – Spanish cognates: estación, ilusión, correctamente, hábilmente, curioso, misterioso, felicidad, humanidad, hospital, farmacia, elefante…
Let’s see how to identify the different types of cognates and how they work, in the video below.
Types of Cognates in Spanish
Sure you are going to be surprised when you discover, with this video, how many cognates are between the two languages.
Probably you have noticed that the cognates, sometimes, sound quite different when they are pronounced, this is due to intonation. Learn how to give the right stress to the Spanish word in our post «Spanish stress and intonation«.
List of cognates in Spanish
For more examples, here is a list of cognates in Spanish related to food, there are not exactly the same, but there are easy to identify and very useful, isn’t it?
Click on the link to find a list with 100 Spanish cognates with examples.
False cognates or false friends
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Careful! Sometimes you are going to come across words in Spanish that look quite similar to a Spanish one, but they are actually a false cognate o false friend. Click on the links to learn more about false friends and remember to contact your tutor with any question you have. Don’t you have a Spanish tutor yet?