Cactus Language Blog

Beware these 15 ‘false friends’ in Spanish!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Learning a language is as much about stringing together a perfect sentence as it is about being able to laugh and pick yourself up when you make a mistake. False friends, or falsos amigos, are one such route to finding yourself in the latter situation - but what exactly are they, and how can you avoid them?

For an English speaker learning Spanish, there are thousands of word that are essentially the same in both languages, with the same etymology (origin) and meaning; these are known as cognates. A good example is the very word etymology, whose equivalent in Spanish is etimología. Or estación, that becomes station.

A false friend, however, is when you have a pairing of these cognates that lure you into thinking they mean the same thing, when they actually mean something very different. In written or spoken Spanish, this can lead to a misunderstanding, embarrassment or, if you’re lucky, a good giggle…but by taking note of some of the most common false friends, as listed below, you can at least avoid the worst.

Good luck - and at the end of the day, remember we all make mistakes!

1. Constiparse / constipación = to catch a cold (v) / a cold (n). If you go into a pharmacy and say you are constipado/a you will be given cold medication. If you are constipated you need to say you are estrenido/a.

2. Embarazada = pregnant. If you are feeling embarrassed it is best not to announce you are pregnant, but to say tengo vergüenza or me siento avergonzado/a.

3. Decepcionar / decepción = to disappoint (v) / disappointment (n). To deceive someone is to enganar a alguien, while something deceptive is engañoso.

4. Actual / actualmente = current (adj) / currently (adv). For example, un problema actual would be a current problem. If you want to specify that something is real you should use verdadero, eg. un verdadero profesional (a real professional) or real, eg. en la vida real (in real life).

5. En absoluto = not at all, absolutely not, eg. no me gusta en absoluto = I don’t like it at all. The equivalent of ‘absolutely’ would be completamente or totalmente.

6. Pretender = to try. The usual translation of ‘pretend’ or ‘feign’ is fingir, eg. fingió no verme = she pretended not to see me.

7. Sensible = sensitive, or capable of feeling, eg. soy sensible a la luz = I am sensitive to light. If you are trying to convey your common sense, use sensato.

8. Campo = field or countryside. If you’re going camping use campamento = campsite, or acampar = to camp.

9. Carpeta = folder or briefcase. If you want to refer to the carpet use alfombra or tapete.

10. Conductor = driver. The conductor would be the director (music) or cobrador (bus).

11. Desgracia / desgraciadamente = misfortune (n) / unfortunately (adv). To express disgrace you would use vergüenza, eg. es una vergüenza = he is a disgrace.

12. Soportar = to bear or endure, eg. no soporto este calor = I can’t stand this heat. ‘Support’ would be apoyar or sostener.

13. Ignorar = to be unaware of. If someone is ignoring you would say no me hace caso.

14. Compromiso = commitment. A compromise would be un acuerdo or un arreglo.

15. Éxito = success. The exit is la salida.

Tags:etymology, false friends, falsos amigos, Spanish