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Be careful with false cognates, they can be tricky!

 

Cognates are words with the same origin and the same meaning like: frustrated/ frustrado; idea / idea; person / persona. On the other hand, falsecognates are words that may sound and look very similar, but becareful, they may not mean the same thing. This is probably becausethe historical origins of the words are different.

 

Here is a list of false cognates for you to study:

WHAT YOU WANTED TO SAY

CORRECT WAY TO SAY WHAT YOU WANTED TO SAY.

FALSE COGNATE

(COMMON ERROR)

ENGLISH MEANING

of false cognate

parents

padres

parientes

relatives

relative

pariente

relativo

relating to something

large

grande

largo

long

actually

de hecho

actualmente

now-a-days

soap

jabón

sopa

soup

to realize

darse cuenta de

(me doy cuenta de...)

realizar

to achieve

to fulfill

embarrassed

avergonzado

embarazado

pregnant

excited

emocionado

excitado

“horny”

dormitory

residencia estudiantil

dormitorio

bedroom

lecture

conferencia / charla

lectura

reading

library

biblioteca

librería

bookstore

topic

tema

tópico

for external use

 
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