False friends in Spanish and English | Learn English with Cambridge

Hello everyone, I'm Paula.

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As you know, I am from Argentina, so my first language is Spanish.

I must admit it wasn’t that easy to learn English, because there are

so many tricky words which look similar to the ones in Spanish,

but are significantly different in meaning.

These are what we call false friends.

If Spanish is your mother tongue and you're learning English,

stay here, because this is the perfect video for you.

Have you ever felt misunderstood?

Don’t your friends get what you want to say?

Have you ever gone through any of these situations?

That’s it? Oh no, it's time. I have to do the exam now.

Don't worry, you can do it. Exit.

In Spanish we use the word éxito to wish someone good luck,

but it looks similar to exit.

However, in English exit means the door through which you leave a place.

In this example you can say good luck.

Oh, I mean you can do it. Good luck. Oh, thanks.

You're welcome. See you. I look at him and I'm so embarrassed.

Wait, what? You're embarrassed.

Congratulations. What?

Careful.

Embarrassed looks like embarazada in Spanish, pregnant,

but it means feeling ashamed, not being pregnant.

Oh, you were ashamed, right? Yes. Yes, ashamed.

Keep telling me...

I thought he was Brazilian, but actually he was Portuguese.

Why actually?

Has he changed his nationality recently?

Here the problem is that actually looks like actualmente in Spanish,

which is used to talk about something happening at the present time.

But in English it means in fact.

Oh, I get it. In fact, he was Portuguese.

Yes, actually. Oh, I wish I had grandma’s recipes.

Oh, don’t worry.

I've written every recipe and they are in my carpet.

On your carpet? You wrote on the carpet? Your mum’s going to be so angry.

Carpet can be confused with carpeta in Spanish,

but in English it is a rug.

Oh, right.

I've written every recipe and they are in my folder.

That was a big party.

All my parents came. All your parents?

Yes, I mean my aunts, my uncles, my cousins.

This is a typical mistake.

Spanish speakers tend to confuse the word parent with parientes,

but in English parents are your mother, your father.

For the extended family you can use the word relatives.

Oh, I mean all my relatives came.

Every time I watch this film I can't stop crying.

You are so sensible.

In Spanish the word sensible is written exactly the same,

but it has a different meaning.

If you want to refer to someone who can get easily upset,

you can use the word sensitive.

No, I mean you get emotional because you are sensitive.

I need to borrow some books from the library tomorrow.

Borrow?

I don’t think they will lend you those books unless you pay for them.

But it's a library.

Another typical tricky word is library,

which looks similar to librería, but in Spanish it means a bookshop.

Oh, right, a library.

Yes, I was thinking about a bookshop. Oh, no.

Let's recap. Exit doesn't mean éxito.

Embarrassed doesn't mean embarazada. Actually doesn't mean actualmente.

Carpet doesn't mean carpeta. Parents doesn't mean parientes.

Sensible doesn't mean sensible. And library doesn't mean librería.

I hope this video helps you to use those confusing words correctly.

Can you think of any other false friends?

Write them in the comments below.

If you enjoyed the video as much as I did, don't forget to give us a thumbs up.

See you in the next video. This was Paula, over and out.