Los Cognados

Los Cognados Cognates are words that are similar across related languages. Since both Spanish and English have Latin roots they have thousands of words in common. In fact, up to 1/3 of the words in Spanish and English are cognates. Cognates give you a huge head start in your language learning because they are so similar to words that you already know. By learning to recognize and use cognates, you can exponentially increase your Spanish vocabulary. You can use your English to leverage the learning of Spanish. Once you understand the concepts on the following slides, the only limit to your Spanish vocabulary will be the amount of English you know. (THE POWER OF COGNATES: Using English to Learn Spanish Quickly and Easily -Bryce Hedstrom)

-ción from –tion There are many English words that end in –tion. The Spanish cognates end in -ción. English                           Spanish emotion                           emoción dedication  dedicación ration ración nation   nación

NOTAS IMPORTANTES *Note that all of these cognate ends have the stress on the final syllable. educación *Also, all of these words are feminine in gender. *Double consonants are not used in Spanish unless it is the –ll or –rr. So drop one of them in the Spanish cognate. attention atención *The exception is words that end in –ction. They will have a double consonant (cc). section sección

-dad from –ty There are many English nouns that end in –ty. The Spanish cognates end in –dad, and are always feminine. English                           Spanish university                        universidad capacity  capacidad society sociedad curiosity   curiosidad

NOTAS IMPORTANTES *All of these words are feminine in gender. (–dad is feminine ) la eternidad la brutalidad *You will again need to drop one of the letters if the English has a double consonant combination. necessity necesidad possibility posibilidad difficulty dificuldad (notice this one is not –ity) community comunidad

-mente from –ly There are many English words that end in –ly. The Spanish equivalent is –mente. It is added to the feminine form of adjectives to create these adverbs. English adj      Spanish adj Spa adv final         final finalmente normal normal normalmente rapid rapido rapidamente

English adj   Spanish adj Spa adv exact exacto exactamente correct correcto correctament easy facil facilmente natural natural naturalmente evident evidente evidentemente absolute absoluto absolutamente

NOTAS IMPORTANTES These words are always adverbs. meaning they tweak the meanings of verbs or adjectives. act normally. (describes how someone acts) really weird (describes the adjective weird) read quickly (tells how someone read)