1001 Spanish Words You Already Know – A Guide To English-Spanish Cognates

Here are some more, both perfect and imperfect cognates:
inexplicable, exculpated, inundated, and incorregible

Thanks for this! I have the same problem with distinto and diferente. I’ll keep my ears open for how others use them, too.

Someone mentioned it, previously, but I didn’t see a response — Are you going to update the list to include accent marks on the Spanish words? If not, why do you feel that it is not necessary? Thanks!

Anything that makes learning a language easier is worth looking at in my book! Thank you for sharing, Andrew.

I actually teach French and German and always discuss cognates in the first lesson. It helps students to feel that they can learn a new language from the outset, because there are similarities between their native tongue (English, mostly) and the language they are learning. Win-win!

Very helpful article and video sir!
Oh yes, your English accent is lovely!

Andrew, great work, but might I suggest a very important improvement: clarify all of the genders in Spanish.

Remember that we Spanish learners need to learn the genders as well.

Thanks you so much!

I am running a Spanish meetup group in Dallas to learn Spanish. Often, many new comers are coming on the meeting to learn Spanish. If you want to explore your horizon in Texas, I will be more than happy to help you.

Regards,

Es Perfecto! See I am already talking in Spanish :). This is a brilliant list and so are your videos. I am trying to learn Spanish and your guides are helping me a lot. Gracias! 🙂

hey, I love to learn the Spanish language for its diversity. As I am a learner of this language, it helps me a lot.
Would you please make an article on the food name in Spanish? It will be super helpful for me. Either way, thanks for this article.

thanks for your nice awesome pdf

Heavy respect for making the list!
Also amazing how you still reply to comment 5 years later!

Thank you so much Andrew… this definitely did help me alot.
Muchas gracias 😁

Thank you for the compilation, it’s very good. I wanted to contribute with a few perfect cognates more, I’m leaving the Spanish spelling only, the ’tildes’.
Btw, to reply to a comment I’ve seen, all the Spanish words are correctly spelt, tildes are okay, but Área, is missing a tilde because is esdrújula.
Some more:
Abdominal, accidental, aerosol, ancestral, ángel, astral, binocular, celestial,
censor, cereal, color, consensual, contextual, contusión, córner, cráter, crochet, cruel, decimal, dental, dorsal, dúo, facial, factual, fan, fauna, favor, [ph] fenomenal, filial, flora, floral, focal, forestal, gel, guardián, héroes, horrible, impala, impecable [c], , infinitesimal, intangible, integral, interior, intolerable, instrumental, irrefutable, irritable, inaugural, inquisitorial, ítem, jaguar, jersey, kiwi, latín, lava, longitudinal, mánager, marital, máster, memorial, Mercedes, meridional, molar, molecular, monitor, multicultural, nasal, naval, némesis, neurosis, neutral, nominal, novel, numeral, occidental, ocular, ómnibus, orbital, ordinal, páncreas, parental, paternal, patrimonial, pedal, pedestal, pizza, plausible, portable, portal, Portugal, postal, potable, provisión, puzle[z], rádar, ratio, real, receptor, récord, satán, sénior, sensible*, sensor, sensorial, series, temporal, terminal, territorial, textual, trauma, triangular, trío, trivial, tutorial, variable, viable, virtual, visceral, yogurt, Wi-Fi.

Thank you Andrew!
I m trying to learn Spanish for so long and always confused and memory issue as u said in ur other video.
Your way of teaching becomes learning way more easier . Love it!
Thanks for this free lessons.
God bless u and the work u do to educate others.
I m sure you will be a happy chap ever. When u help others you always get happiness in return.
Love from india . – viviano

Hello, i just want to say thank you for this article which is very helpful
because I’m about to make a thesis of English master degree whiçh is about a “comparative study of English and Spanish vocabulary.

What a great set of lists that work both ways, for learners of Spanish too. Much appreciated Andrew for the effort to assemble this resource.

Wait, there may be a few more cognates out there. One perfect cognate is Dragon/Dragón.

¡Hola!
I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but one word you left out is pizza.
I wouldn’t have mentioned it except this take-out food is so, so common.

bye . . .

Hello Mr. Barr, I have always wanted to learn Spanish. You have made this fun and enjoyable. I really don’t have the words to tell you how great your lessons are. But, I will try.

Hi, I may have missed it but what about the word endings in ITY which are the same and you simply change the ITY to DAD i.e. Electricity-Electricidad, Velocity-Velocidad, Community-Communidad, possibility-Possibildad, Tranquility-Tranquilidad, University-Universidad etc. Or is this another subject?

Excelente! (wait, is that another one? Is it *important*? oops yet another one. Ok, let me get to my point… ) THANK YOU! I want my kids to learn Spanish and this is a wonderful tool. I made a selection of 145. There are many more but for me I wanted to focus on words they know in English (8 & 12 y.o.) Again, great *list* (huh? one more?)
Once someone told me Spanish was confusing because why is it that “Book” is “Libro” and not “Buko” and my answer was probably for the same reason English has “Library” but not “Bookery” (by the way a false cognate here because “Librería” is not “Library”)
Separate topic now… While learning English I found some very interesting words I call “palabras hermanas” and I’m obsessed in finding more and grow my list. “Palabras hermanas” for me are these…
– The word in English has two different meanings.
– The corresponding Spanish word has the same exact two meanings.
Good example:
– Second/Segundo. They have the same two meanings Hour Minute “Second” is Hora Minuto *Segundo* and First *Second* Third is Primero *Segundo* Tercero. I have about 20 like these which for me is interesting and fun.

Thank you.

Will try to teach some to a 73 year old…

It’s 2024, and I am so happy to have found this. ¡¡Gracias!! 🙂

I love this page and come back to it again and again.

One cognate not on your list: replica.