Cognates/ Cognados

Cognates A cognate is a Spanish word that resembles an English word. It may look or sound like an English word. It may even be spelled the exact same way.

Cognates Cognates are VERY important! They will help you in Spanish! So always listen and look for them on tests and in activities!

Cognate For example, the number 0 in Spanish is “cero”. Notice how it looks similar to the English word, “zero”. Or look at the word “popular” in Spanish. Notice it is spelled the exact same in English.

Cognate You can find cognates in a lot of other languages… it is not just a Spanish thing! Words that resemble one another and that have the same meaning in two languages are called cognates.

How many cognates can you find? Look around my room and see if you can find any cognates… Now, look in book and see if you can find any other cognates…

Examples Person persona Televisión  television Vocabulary vocabulario

False cognates Be careful!!! There are false cognates too! A false cognate is a (Spanish) word that looks and sounds like a word an English word but actually has a completely different meaning.

False Cognates Example: Asistir does not mean to assist – it is to attend What it seems should match but doesn’t!!