False Friends

Both of these words are “conocer” in Spanish, so it’s important to know when to use which. Meet is what we use for the first time you’re introduced to someone. I met my wife on a beach in Acapulco. Janey met Mark in 2005. After that first meeting, you know that person. I got to […]

  This word, as an adjective, has a similar meaning to its Spanish equivalent, but it’s completely different as a verb.  Spanish uses the verb as a mathematical operation, which in English is “subtract”.  The English “rest” is all about what you do when you sit down and relax after a long, hard day. Like […]

  This word, rooted in Latin, is used in Spanish to talk about setting something, making it stick or permanent, and that definition is also used in English.  However, we also use “fix” to mean “repair”, both as a noun and a verb. I need to take the car to garage to get it fixed. […]

Spanish uses this cognate ‘carrera’ to focus on schooling, especially university. Whereas, the English word for receiving a certification for education is degree. So, what does career mean in English then? English uses the word career to talk about what happens after you get your degree at university, and before you retire: all those years […]

  As usual with false friends, these words have similar underlying ideas, but are not the same. The English word “rare”, much like its Spanish lookalike, means that something is infrequent, perhaps even a little special.  But it’s not unusual.   And that’s what makes it different from the Spanish word.  A more common translation for […]

Despite their surface similarity, these words are completely unrelated.

The English word is a noun and a verb, and describes how to get out of a place, to leave it.

There must be an Exit sign over every door that leads to the street, in case of emergencies.
After reciting her monologue, Marie bowed before the cheering audience and exited the stage.