COGNATES

Mir

UNIVERSITY OF THE ARMED FORCES

LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

NAME: WILSON CASTILLO

LEVEL: V-VIII

Wilson Castillo

English Class

COGNATES

The 'convertible' words between English and Spanish are known as cognates. English and Spanish Cognates are words in both languages that share the same Latin root and which are very similar. It is important to bear in mind that these cognates do not always translate from one language to another precisely. For example: "inferior" in Spanish may be used to refer to a subordinate in the work-place, without carrying any of the derogatory meaning in the English usage. In Spanish, "informal" means unreliable rather than casual. In spite of these 'false cognates', there are thousands of English words which can be converted into Spanish along with much of their English meaning (especially the literal meaning).

The cognates fall into suffix categories which, for clarity and convenience, have been grouped under the following terms:

 Nouns

 Adjectives

 Verbs

 Adverbs

1. NOUNS

Many Spanish nouns can easily be converted into English nouns.

English nouns and Spanish nouns ending in '-or' are very often identical.

#1. -or = -or

English Spanish

• actor

• color

• doctor

• director

• horror • actor

• color

• doctor

• director

• horror

English nouns and Spanish nouns ending in '-al' are very common identical.

#2. -al = -al

English Spanish

• animal

• general

• hospital

• manual

• moral • animal

• general

• hospital

• manual

• moral

Many English nouns ending with '-ist', can be converted into Spanish nouns by changing to '-ista'.

#3. -ist → -ista

English Spanish

• artist

• egoist

• list

• socialist

• tourist • artista

• egoista

• lista

• socialista

• turista

#4. -ism → -ismo

English Spanish

• idealism

• despotism

• mechanism

• organism

• optimism • idealismo

• despotismo

• mecanismo

• organismo

• optimismo

#5. -nce → -ncia

English Spanish

• abundance

• arrogance

• experience

• patience

• intelligence • abundancia

...