SPANISH LANGUAGE Lesson 1

SPANISH WORDS YOU DON'T KNOW THAT YOU ALREADY KNOW


There are many words of Spanish origin in the American English, but also there are many words that are derived from the Latin, or Italian, or French, and resembles many Spanish Words.
In this lesson, we will try to expose you to those words, and will try to give you some tips about how to form a Spanish word knowing only the English word.
First of all, let's say that most English words of three sylables or more are converted into Spanish by some little change or no change at all. So that means that if you want to learn Spanish pronto, think about words from Latin, French or Italian origin, or think about multiple syllable words, and convert them to Spanish by using some of the tips you will learn in this Lesson 1. But remember although words may be written the same or with a slight change, their pronounciation follow the Spanish rules. See Lesson 2
Let's start with the Spanish words or of Spanish origin, already knwon and used in the English speaking World:
amigo - burro - caballero - cabana - cacao (cocoa)
cafetería - cañón (canyon) - cojones - conquistador - fiesta
gringo(a) - juzgado (hoosgow) - loco - mañana - marijuana
matador - Negro - piñata - rodeo - señor
siesta - sombrero - señorita - tabaco (tobacco) - tornado -
plaza - guerrilla - marina - pronto - gusto -

Feeling more comfortable now. In the list above, we are omitting words derived from food, as for example "taco", "tortilla", etc. Those words are international and are not part of the Scope of this lesson.
Well, now we're going to introduce you to other words which are written and mean the same in both languages, and they come from the same origin:
no - arena - radio - televisión - menú -
piano - visión - vista - casino - tensión -
pensión - invasión - mansión - villa - probable -
animal - terrible - color - pastor - solar -
polar - favor -

Then, we have words that are almost written the same with some slight changes. Changes are divided into categories.
Let's take first the category of those words ending in "tion" which change to Spanish by changing the ending to "ción".
Most of the words in English that end in "tion" are changed to Spanish by changing the ending to "ción". Examples of those words are: (There are many more, of course)
acción - predicción - infección - intención - proporción
intersección - loción - organización - convicción - dicción -
For the next category, we will say that lots of English words can convert into Spanish by simply adding "a", or "o" at the end of the word, or in some cases if the word ends in "e", by substituting it for an "a" or an "o". If ending in "y", substitute for "io" or "ia". There are many words in this category. Words ending in "ism" usually convert by adding an "o".
Examples of those words: (Some words combine other tips discussed above or below.)
extraordinario - fantástico - fabuloso - exquisito - (e)spada -
económico - comuna - comunismo - socialismo - capitalismo -

Now, there are words in the above categories which need additional changes to make it Spanish words. Those changes will fall into other categories.

For example, let's take the fact that Spanish (with the exception of "ll", "rr", "nn" and "cc") does not allow for words written with two same consecutive consonants (i.e. "ss", "bb", "mm", etc.) Words written with same double consonants convert into Spanish by writing them with a single consonant. Example of those words:
pasión - función - misión - posible - imposible -
profesor - profesión -

The next category comprises those words beginning with "s" followed by a consonant other than "h". In Spanish, these words convert by adding an "e" at the beginning of the word. However, not all words of this type change to Spanish by this change.
Now combining previous discussed tips, here are some examples of those words:
estadio - estupid(o) - escen(a) - espad(a) -

The next category comprises words ending in "um" or "us" of Latin origin. In Spanish they convert by changing the "um" or "us" into "o". As simple as that.
Here below find some of these words - some words combine previously discussed tips.
consenso - medio - péndulo - estadio -

There are other categories and we will be providing those later.....keep tuned.
But meanwhile, I hope that these tips will serve you in your quest for learning Spanish.

The following list contains Spanish Languages Lessons that are part of this MINI-SERIES:

Next Lessons:

Other Foreign Languages that are part of this MINI-SERIES:

Other MINI-SERIES Topics:

Homepage

Return to the BASE FOR LEARNING

If you have any suggestions, comments, please e-mail me at emil@magicnet.net Otherwise, come back soon.