Cognados

You have probably heard of cognates before this semester of Spanish. We are going to look more in depth at these words which are great helpers to those learning a second language.

There are many patterns among the cognates that can help us add to our vocabulary without having to really learn new words in another language. 

Words that end in -tion in English generally end in -ción in Spanish.  English words like "ration" and "contamination" can be translated in Spanish to ración and contaminación. 

Remember that when a Spanish word always ends in -ción, there is always an accent mark over the "o". These words are also always feminine.

Also pay close attention to the pronunciation; the "c" sounds like "s" and never "sh."