Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to recognize and correctly use several common Spanish-English “false friends.”

Lesson Explanation

A “false friend” is a Spanish word that looks or sounds like an English word but has a genuinely different meaning — a trap that catches even advanced learners, since the resemblance actively misleads.

Embarazada looks like “embarrassed” but genuinely means “pregnant”: Está embarazada. (She is pregnant — NOT “She is embarrassed.”) The word for “embarrassed” is avergonzado/a.

Éxito looks like “exit” but genuinely means “success”: Tuvo mucho éxito. (It was very successful — NOT “It had an exit.”) The word for “exit” is salida.

Sopa looks like “soap” but genuinely means “soup” — the word for “soap” is jabón, a genuinely important distinction with real consequences if confused in, say, a restaurant.

Molestar (already introduced in Part 5, Lesson 5 as a “gustar”-type verb) looks like “to molest” but genuinely means simply “to bother/annoy”: No me molestes. (Don’t bother me — NOT the serious English meaning of “molest,” which would sound genuinely alarming if mistranslated literally.) Introducir means “to insert/introduce a concept,” but is NOT used for introducing people — for that, Spanish uses presentar: Te presento a mi hermana. (Let me introduce you to my sister.)

Practice Questions