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English for Spanish speakers

English isn't a Romance language, but it borrowed thousands of words from French and Latin: of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,076 have a cognate between Spanish and English. Start from those, and keep the false friends in sight.

Sets your pairing to Spanish → English and opens the cognates.
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distant cognates
4%
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2,264 words compared

Words you already know

Everyday words whose Spanish and English forms come from the same source.

False friends to watch

  • embarazada (Spanish) means “pregnant” · embarrassed (English) means “ashamed, awkward”

    Both go back to Ibero-Romance embarazar / embaraçar 'to hinder, encumber' (further origin uncertain); English got it through French embarrasser. Spanish narrowed 'encumbered' to 'pregnant', English to 'flustered'.

  • constipado (Spanish) means “having a cold, stuffed up” · constipated (English) means “unable to empty the bowels”

    Both from Latin CONSTĪPĀRE 'to press together': Spanish blocks the nose, English the bowels. Italian costipato can mean either.

  • actual (Spanish) means “current, present-day” · actual (English) means “real”

    Both from Late Latin ACTUĀLIS 'active, in action'. The Romance sisters went 'in action now' (fr actuel, it attuale too); English went 'in fact'. Hence actualmente = 'currently', not 'actually' (en realidad).

  • éxito (Spanish) means “success” · exit (English) means “way out”

    Both from Latin EXITUS 'a going out; outcome'. Spanish took the happy outcome; English kept the door.

  • realizar (Spanish) means “to carry out, achieve” · realize (English) means “to become aware”

    Both built on Latin RĒĀLIS 'real': 'to make real'. English added 'to make real in the mind' (to grasp); Spanish kept 'to make happen'. French réaliser has taken on the English sense in speech.

  • carpeta (Spanish) means “folder, file” · carpet (English) means “floor covering”

    Both trace back to Medieval Latin and Old Italian carpita, a coarse woollen cloth (probably from CARPERE 'to pluck'). Spanish carpeta (probably via French carpette) was once a table cover, then the cover that holds papers.

Words to learn fresh

Common words where English went its own way.