Spanish-English Cognates

Spanish and English share thousands of cognados — words with a common Latin or Greek root that look and mean nearly the same in both languages. Learning the patterns that map one to the other gives you an instant vocabulary boost of thousands of words.

The -tion → -ción pattern

English words ending in -tion almost always become -ción in Spanish. These nouns are always feminine.

The -ly → -mente pattern

English adverbs in -ly become Spanish adverbs in -mente. The ending attaches to the feminine form of the adjective.

The -ous → -oso pattern

English adjectives in -ous become Spanish adjectives in -oso/-osa.

The -ic → -ico pattern

English adjectives in -ic become Spanish -ico/-ica. Note the written accent on the antepenultimate syllable.

The -ty → -dad pattern

English nouns in -ty turn into -dad in Spanish. These are feminine.

The -ary → -ario pattern

The -ance/-ence → -ancia/-encia pattern

A few more useful verb patterns

English verbs ending in -ate often become -ar in Spanish.