For a lot of historical reasons that are really interesting but not super relevant right now, Spanish shares a ton of common vocabulary with English. Many of the words you know and use everyday in English can be translated into Spanish with just small changes. These words fall into different categories; let’s talk about the first in this lesson.
-or Words
You get this one for free. Many words that end in “or” in English can be translated into Spanish with either no change or just a minor change in spelling. Woo! How’s that for some starter vocab?
(Note that “el” means “the” and “un” means “a” or “an.” So “el doctor” is “the doctor,” and “un doctor” is “a doctor.”)
Here’s a short list of some common “-or” words you might want to use:
- el doctor
- el color
- el error
- un tractor
- un interior
- un profesor
- exterior
- superior
- favor
Keep in mind with “profesor” that the “ss” turns into just a single “s.”
Also, you can use either “el” or “un” with any of the words in this list, we just used a little of each to show you how it can be done.
Though the spelling of these words doesn’t change between English and Spanish, the pronunciation does. All the pronunciation rules from the previous lesson still apply, of course.
In addition, on these “or” words in Spanish, the emphasis is on the last syllable. So “color” is emphasized like “co-LOR.” (Keep in mind that the letter “o” always sounds like “oh” in Spanish)
Not bad for your second lesson in Spanish, right? We already know a bunch of words that we don’t even have to memorize. And the above list is just a small sampling. Here are some for the road:
Are you making a movie and need a director and editor? How about an inspector, a tutor, or a mentor? Of course, we can’t forget vector, sector, or factor. All of these are the same in both Spanish and English. And the list goes on!