The concept of cognates in English refers to words that remind us of terms in another language, either through spelling or pronunciation. Knowing these expressions helps you to more easily memorize the vocabulary of the language you are learning.

However, you need to be aware of some words that can end up misleading you when speaking or writing in a second language – and that’s the crux of this article! To learn how to speak and understand dialogues in English better without changing the meaning of any part of the sentence, keep reading!

Find out more about what cognates are, their classifications and some recurring examples in our daily lives, here at blog of the CCAA.

What are cognates in English?

Cognates, also called friendly terms, are words from two different languages that have grammatical similarity and the same meaning. This idiomatic phenomenon occurs because several terms, even though they are from different languages, have the same origin.

Knowing the “friendly terms” in other languages makes it much easier to learn new vocabulary. After all, it’s much easier to memorize the meaning of something if it sounds the same as the word in your native language, right?

However, not all words in this group are exactly the same, as is the case with “banana” – a term that does not change a single letter from Portuguese to English: there are different degrees of similarity between expressions in two languages.

That said, these are the three ways to classify cognates:

• identical: both the spelling and the meaning are the same in both languages, as is the case with “banana” which we mentioned before;

• similar: the grammatical distinction is minimal, but the meaning remains the same in both terms, as “tomato” and “tomato”;

• vaguely similar: have similarities, but the change in spelling is not as small as the previous ones. For example, “electricity” and “electricity”.

Now that you know how to distinguish between the types of friendly terms, check out some examples used in everyday life that will make all the difference in your English vocabulary!

Discover some cognates in English

All the cognates that we will bring here and their pronunciations are based on the Cambridge Dictionary, which is recognized worldwide. So #let's talk?

• • Item x Item (Identical cognates)

• pronunciation: ai-tm;

• • Dance x Dance (Similar cognates)

• pronunciation: in;

• • Human x Human (Similar cognates)

• pronunciation: hyoo-muhn;

• • Idea x Idea (Similar cognates)

• pronunciation: oh-deeh-uh;

• • Explanation x Explanation (Vaguely similar cognates)

• pronunciation: eks-plan-nêi-shãN;

• • Comedy x Comedy (Similar cognates)

• pronunciation: I met you;

• • Other x Other (Vaguely similar cognates)

• pronunciation: â-dhêR.

You probably already knew some of these words, but it's always good to remember the correct way to say each of these terms, right?!

So what are false cognates?

False cognates are terms that have grammatical similarity, but represent completely different ideas. It is important to know them, as they cause confusion in those who are learning a new language, which causes them to end up saying something they didn't want to.

These cases of words that are similar in spelling but have opposite meanings, occur in different languages, as many have the same origin, but have gained new meanings over time.

In the case of English to Portuguese – even though its origins are Germanic and Latin, respectively – we can still find several “false friends” that end up putting the speaker in a complicated situation if they don’t understand what he originally meant to say.

How to avoid mistakes with false cognates?

Whether in English, Spanish or any other language, CCAA's tip is that, in addition to your regular classes, deepen your knowledge and practice of these words so you don't fall into these traps.

Use cultural products pop, such as movies, series and podcasts, it's a great help! We've already talked about it in our blog about how to study English with movies, check out the content!

What are false cognates in English?

Although many false cognates are no longer a problem for someone with some experience in English, some that are less commonly used and mentioned in everyday life may end up going unnoticed when you read a text or listen to a conversation. These small mistakes can compromise the understanding of an entire paragraph or even prevent you from communicating fluently with native speakers.

So, check out the table with some of the false friends between Portuguese and English!

Knowing more about English cognates, false friends and the pronunciations of each term, it will be even easier to memorize the correct way to use each word. Keep following the blog from CCAA to check out even more tips on how to learn a second language.

See you next time!