Patterns of Similarity in English and Spanish Vocabulary

One key to expanding your Spanish vocabulary quickly, especially when youre new to the language, is learning to recognize the word patterns seen in many English-Spanish cognates. In a sense, English and Spanish are cousins, as they have a common ancestor, known as Indo-European. And sometimes, English and Spanish can seem even closer than cousins, because English has adopted many words from French, a sister language to Spanish. As you learn the following word patterns, remember that in some cases the meanings of the words have changed over the centuries. Sometimes the English and Spanish meanings can overlap; for example, while a discusià ³n in Spanish can refer to a discussion, it often refers to an argument. But an argumento in Spanish can refer to the plot of the story. Words that are alike or similar in the two languages but have different meanings are known as false friends. As you learn Spanish, here are some of the more common patterns of similarity youll come across: Similarities in Word Endings nation, nacià ³nstation, estacià ³nfraction, fraccià ³nperforaction, perforacià ³npublication, publicacià ³n Words that end in -ty in English often end in -dad in Spanish: fidelity, fidelidadfelicity, felicidadfaculty, facultadliberty, libertadauthority, autoridad Names of occupations that end in -ist in English sometimes have a Spanish equivalent ending in -ista (although other endings also are used): dentist, dentistaartist, artistaorthopedist, ortopedistaphlebotomist, flebotomista Names of fields of study that end in -ology often have a Spanish cognate ending in -ologà ­a: geology, geologà ­aecology, ecologà ­aarchaeology, arqueologà ­a Adjectives that end in -ous may have a Spanish equivalent ending in -oso: famous, famosonervous, nerviosofibrous, fibrosoprecious, precioso Words ending in -cy often have an equivalent ending in -cia: democracy, democraciaredundancy, redundanciaclemency, clemencia English words ending in -ism often have an equivalent ending in -ismo: communism, comunismocapitalism, capitalismoatheism, ateà ­smohedonism, hedonismosolecism, solecismo English words ending in -ture often have an equivalent ending in -tura. caricature, caricaturaaperture, aperturaculture, culturarupture, ruptura English words ending in -is often have Spanish equivalents with the same ending. symbiosis, simbiosispelvis, pelviscrisis, crisis Similarities in Word Beginnings Nearly all the common prefixes are the same or similar in the two languages. Prefixes used in the following words make far from a complete list: antipathy, antipatà ­aautonomy, autonomà ­abilingual, bilingà ¼eexportation, exportacià ³ncounterattack, contraataquecontend, contenderdisobedience, desobedienciahomosexual, homosexualparamedic, paramà ©dicopolygamy, poligamiaprefix, prefijopseudoscience, seudoscienciasupermarket, supermercadounilateral, unilateral Some words that begin with an s followed by a consonant in English start with an es in Spanish: stereo, està ©reospecial, especialsnob, esnob Many words ending in ble in English have Spanish equivalents that are identical or very similar: applicable, aplicablecomparable, comparabledivisible, divisiblemalleable, maleableterrible, terrible Some English words that start with a silent letter omit that letter in the Spanish equivalent: psalm, salmoptomaine, tomaà ­napsychology, sicologà ­a Patterns in Spelling Many English words that have a ph in them have an f in the Spanish version: photo, fotometamorphosis, metamorfosisgraph, grà ¡fica A few words in English that have a th in them have a Spanish equivalent with a t: empathy, empatà ­atheater, teatrotheory, teorà ­a Some English words that have double letters have a Spanish equivalent without the letter doubled (although words with rr may have an rr equivalent in Spanish, as in correspond, corresponder): difficulty, dificultadessence, esenciacollaborate, colaborarcommon, comà ºn Some English words that have a ch pronounced as k have Spanish equivalents that use a qu or a c, depending on the letter that follows: architecture, arquitecturachemical, quà ­micocharisma, carismaecho, ecotechnology, tecnologà ­achaos, caos Other Word Patterns Adverbs that end in -ly in English sometimes have a Spanish equivalent ending in -mente: rapidly, rà ¡pidamenteprofusely, profusamenteprudently, prudentemente Final Advice Despite the numerous similarities between English and Spanish, youre probably best off to avoid coining Spanish words — not all words work in the above way, and you may find yourself in an embarrassing situation. Youre a bit safer following these patterns in reverse, however (because youll know if the resulting English word doesnt make sense), and using these patterns as a reminder. As you learn Spanish, youll also come across numerous other word patterns, some of them more subtle than those above.