Just starting to learn Spanish?  

Watch out for these common ‘false friends’ or ‘falsos amigos’

Spanish is a great language to learn for English speakers as the two languages share many similarities.  But be careful! Spanish contains many ‘falsos amigos’ which could lead to confused faces and a few awkward situations.

To help you along, here are a handful of some of the most common ones.

Spanish to English

arena = sand

carta = letter

delito = crime

embarazada = pregnant

éxito = success

once = eleven

pan = bread

red = net

simpático = nice

 

English to Spanish

arena = estadio

card = tarjeta

delight = deleite

embarrassing = embarazoso

exit = salida

once = una vez

pan = sartén

red = rojo