Painless Spanish: Spanish you don't know you know, boost your Spanish vocabulary in 5 minutes! Part 1

Read the second part of this article:Painless Spanish: Spanish you don't know you know, boost your Spanish vocabulary in 5 minutes! Part 2

It is very easy to build a large vocabulary of Spanish words, even if you are just starting! In fact, you already know thousands of English words that become Spanish words if you change them very slightly. There are a lot of words that are equal or very similar between English and Spanish. There are called cognates and when you see one written, you know right away the meaning of the word, although the pronunciation may be different. You can boost your vocabulary by learning the Spanish pronunciation. Then practice listening for cognates when you here Spanish spoken.

Are you ready to boost your Spanish vocabulary in just 5 minutes… or in the time it takes you to read this article? 
Let’s start, these words fall into several large categories:


CATEGORY 1: English words which end in “or”
actor = actor
doctor = doctor
… I think these words don’t need translation; then we have:
color, tractor, interior, conductor, error, favor, profesor, inventor, exterior, superior, reflector, inspector, conector, terror, temor, factor, interior.

TIP: Sound like a real Pro stressing all these words on the last syllable. An easy rule: Spanish words ending in “or” are stressed on the last syllable. Example: coLOR, docTOR, acTOR.

 
CATEGORY 2: English words which end in “al”
animal, electoral, criminal, canal, local, musical, lateral, natural, central, comercial, legal, personal, rural, social, angelical, oficial, elemental, clerical, floral, herbal, usual, total.

TIP: Spanish words ending in “al” are stressed on the last syllable too. Examples: aniMAL, soCIAL.

 
CATEGORY 3: English words which end in “ble”
cable, noble, horrible, inevitable, accesible, formidable, invisible, probable, honorable, infalible, posible, flexible, visible, terrible, notable, convertible, inseparable, manipulable, censurable, irritable, memorable.

TIP: Stress on the next to the last syllable. Example: ineviTAble, acceSIble, CAble, NOble.


Did you know these cognates? Incorporating cognates into your conversation is a practically painless way to greatly increase your Spanish. This is not the end of the categories, next week we will publish more of them, in the meantime practice with these words. 

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