What is a cognate?
A cognate is a word that is similar in two different languages. They are derived from the same root. They may look exactly the same or slightly different, but they are spelled similarly and mean the same thing.
How does it help you learn a new language?
If you already know what the word means in your native tongue, it is easy to guess what it means in the target language. For example the word agenda is the same in English and Spanish, although the pronunciation is slightly different. There are about 1000 words that are the same or similar between English and Spanish. That is an impressive number of vocabulary words to start out knowing!
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| cable | cable |
| chocolate | chocolate |
| irregular | irregular |
| pastor | pastor |
| tropical | tropical |
Just add an "-o"
Have you ever met someone who is trying to speak Spanish and they just add "-o" to the end of every word? It always makes me laugh when this happens on TV. This is kind of where it comes from. Check out these words:
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| anniversary | aniversario |
| artistic | artistico |
| electronic | electronico |
| glorious | glorioso |
| perfect | perfecto |
| precious | precioso |
| primary | primario |
| vocabulary | vocabulario |
Watch Out for the False Cognates Though!
False cognates are words that you look at and think you know the meaning of them, but you have to watch out because they really don't mean what you think! Here are some examples you may hear:
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| pregnant | embarazada |
| embarrassed | vergüenza |
| to annoy | molestar |
| to remind | recordar |
| to record | grabar |
| success | éxito |
Check out this website for a downloadable list of 1001 cognates!
Panama Trivia
“A man, a plan, a canal; Panama.” is a palindrome. (A palindrome is a word, number or phrase that's the same backwards and forwards.)
Tuesday Tarea will be brought to you here every Tuesday by A Panama Mama. (Tarea means "homework" in Spanish.)
Check back each week for videos, lessons, poems and much more that will encourage you to explore and learn Spanish!
If you would like to share your thoughts on Spanish, feel free to in the comments.
Gracias por visitarme. Hasta luego.