Spelling Tips!
English "-tion" as the equivalent of Spanish -ción: Hundreds of words fit this
pattern. The English "nation" is nación in Spanish, and "perception" is percepción.
Avoidance of double letters in Spanish: Except for recent words of foreign origin
(such as express), the use of rr and, less commonly, the use of cc (where the second c
is followed by i or e), Spanish generally doesn't use double letters in English cognates.
(Spanish does treat ll as a single letter, but two of the very few English cognates that
shares that usage are "llama" and "guerrilla," both of which were adopted from
Spanish.) Thus the English "libretto" is libreto in Spanish, "possible" is posible, and
"illegal" is ilegal. Examples of rr or cc in cognates include acción, acceso and irrigación.
One Spanish word that doesn't fit this pattern is perenne (perennial).
Avoidance of k in Spanish: Except for a few Greek words (such as kilómetro and
some words of other foreign origin such as kamikaze and various place names),
Spanish cognates of English words with a "k" usually use a c or qu. Examples include
quimioterapia (chemotherapy) and Corea. Some words are spelled both ways: caqui
and kaki are both used for "khaki," and both bikini and biquini are used.
Simplification in Spanish: A number of words, particularly ones whose English
spellings come from French, have more phonetic spellings in Spanish. For example,
"bureau" is buró and "chauffeur" is chófer or chofer, depending on the region. Lack of
"th" in Spanish: Cognates of English words with a "th" usually use a t in Spanish.
Examples are tema (theme), metano (methane), ritmo (rhythm) and metodista
(Methodist).
Use of inm- instead of "im-" to start words: Examples include inmadurez
(immaturity), inmaterial and inmigración.
Use of es- for "s-" preceding a consonant: Native Spanish speakers have a difficult
time pronouncing words beginning with various letter combinations starting with s, so
the spelling is adjusted accordingly. Examples include especial, estéreo, escaldar
(scald), escuela (school) and esnobismo (snobbery).
Avoidance of y as a vowel: Except for some recently imported words such as byte and
sexy, Spanish usually doesn't use y as a vowel except in diphthongs, so i is used
instead. Examples include hidrógeno (hydrogen), dislexia and gimnasta (gymnast).
Use of cua and cuo instead of "qua" and "quo": Examples include ecuador (equator)
and cuota.
Dropping of English's silent letters: Commonly, the "h" in English words is dropped in
the Spanish equivalents, as in ritmo (rhythm) and gonorrea (gonorrhea). Also, it is
common in modern Spanish to not use ps- to start words. Thus sicológico is used for
"psychologist," although the older forms such as psicológico are still used. (The cognate
of "psalm" is always salmo.)
Use of tras- for "trans-": Many English words that begin with "trans-," but not all, have
Spanish cognates that begin with tras-. Examples include trasplantar and trascender.
However, there are many Spanish words where both tras- and trans- are acceptable.
Use of f for the English "ph": Examples include elefante and Filadelfia.
.
Más palabras
abril (April)
adjetivo (adjective)
asamblea (assembly)
automóvil (automobile)
billón (billion)
carrera (career)
circunstancia (circumstance)
ayuda (help)
clase (class)
confort (comfort)
coronel (colonel)
diciembre (December)
conmigo (with me)
después (after)
diferente (different)
énfasis (emphasis)
etcétera (et cetera)
femenino (feminine)
garaje (garage)
gobierno (government)
gorila (gorilla)
huracán (hurricane)
Irak (Iraq)
jonrón (home run)
lenguaje (language)
mensaje (message)
millón (million)
móvil (mobile)
noviembre (November)
octubre (October)
pasaje (passage)
proyecto (project)
colegio (high school)
cumpleaños (birthday)
deportes (sports)
juego (game)
clase (class)
inglés (English)
parque (park)
necesito (I need)
pequeños (small)
porque (because)
huevos (eggs)
dolor (pain)
delicioso (delicious)
septiembre (September)
siniestro (sinister)
yogur or yogurt (yogurt)
difícil (difficult)
fotografía (photography)
grupos (groups)
ocurrir (to occurir)
párrafo (pragraph)
profesor/a (professor)
riqueza (wealth)
seis (six)
también (also)
tecnología (technology)
teléfono (telephone)
todavía (still, yet)
inteligente (smart)
lapiz (pencil)
tal vez (maybe
demostrar (demonstrate)
ciudad (city)
veinte (twenty)
treinta (thirty)
inmediatamente (immediately)
matemáticas (math)
ciencias (sciences)
gimnasio (gym)
posibilidad (possibility)
cincuenta (fifty)
escuela (school)
baloncesto ( basketball)
juegue (subj. form of jugar)
el hambre (the hunger)
brillante (brillant)
a través (through)
a veces (sometimes)
quiere (he/she wants)
silla (chair)
hielo (ice)
izquierda (left)
marzo (march)
jugar (to play)
caballo (horse)
cocina (kitchen)
gracioso (funny)
tos (cough)
voz (voice)
restaurante (restaurante)
cocodrilo (crocadile)
tú - tu
él - el
apariencia (appearance)
pareja (couple)
demasiado (too much)
maravilloso (maravilous)
bocadillos
cruz (cross)
guerra (war)
chaqueta (jacket)
equipo (team)
maquillaje (make-up)
poquito (little)
muy (very)
oficina (office)
atención (attention)
pero (but)
perro (dog)
lengua (tongue
simpática (nice)
símbolo (symbol)
diccionario (dictionary)
tijeras (scissors)
jugo (juice)
empuja (push)
cuello (neck)
calle (street)
adiós (good bye)
ejército (army)
viaje (trip)
razón (reason)
árbol (tree)
hija (daughter)
frecuentemente (frecuently)
mi/mí
más/ mas
si/ sí
ti
allí
haber (all forms of haber): haya, ha
habida, va a haber una fiesta,
estar (all forms of estar): estaba,
estuvo, estuve, estábamos
tener (all forms of tener): tuve, tuvo,
tuviéramos
ir (all forms of ir): iba a la playa, fui a
Question Words: por qué, cómo,
cuándo, quién, cuánto, dónde, qué
cuál,
Para practicar:
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/languages/spanish/spelling__pronunciation/