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Sometimes I get a little lost with these, anyone have a good list of the ones that you should really know, so as not to make a mistake?
Here's a few examples, correct me if I get the words wrong:
Puerto/Puerta: Port/Door
Caso/Casa: Case/House
Pato/Pata: Duck/Paw
My suggestion would be follow the context of the sentence or paragraph, e.g:
Meti la pata. (I messed it up)
La pata nada en el estanque. (The female duck swims in the pond.)
Do those words have a stress mark above a particular vowel? I think that for some Spanish words that have two meanings, the emphasis may be on a different syllable. (?)
eg. p
[quote=brett]Do those words have a stress mark above a particular vowel? I think that for some Spanish words that have two meanings, the emphasis may be on a different syllable. (?)
eg. p
Okay, I whipped out the dictionary, here's a few. Yes, some of the adjectives can go both ways, I know. I ignored ones with the same or similar meanings.
acera - sidewalk
acero - steel
cara - face
caro - expensive
casa - house
caso - case
cera - wax, earwax
cero - zero
cerca - near
cerco - fence
clara - eggwhite
claro - clear
la coma - comma
el coma - coma
como - how
all are forms of comer as well
costa - coast
costo - cost
cuba - Cuba
cubo - bucket
cuenta - count, account, bill
cuento - story
cuerda - rope, cord
cuerdo - sensible, wise
data - date
dato - datum, a piece of data
dicha - happiness, good luck
dicho - saying
faja - band, girdle
fajo - bundle
falla - failure, fault
fallo - sentence, judgement, decision
foca - seal
foco - focus
fonda - inn, hotel
fondo - bottom, background, fund
fuera - out, outside
fueros - local laws
hada - fairy
hado - destiny, fate
(I'll add more later)
libro/libra book/pound
cigarro/cigarra cigar/grasshopper
coco/coca coconut/a bakery product given to children
coto/cota enclosure/
llanto/llanta crying/rubber tire
ramo/rama bunch/branch
rayo/raya lighting thunderbolt/line
rasgo/rasga feature/ rips
seto/seta hedge/mushroom
fajo/faja bundle (of banknotes)/ girdie
BTW there are not differences in stress between pata (leg) and pata (female duck). An example with different stress is
mas/m
The stress mark is quite important to diferentiate these words:
Mendigo=pauper
M
I was just using the article on coma to show it was masculine.
Same as English, you would rarely say "the coma". You say "He's in a coma".
Congratulations on the list. Good job, and it helps us find gramatical similarities between English and Spanish.
Another list of words:
taza=cup
tasa=rate
caza=hunting/game
cazo=pot
casa=house
In Spain the pronounciation would make the difference, not in Latin America.
La papa is a potato.
El Papa is the Pope.
That could be a disaster if you messed that one up!
Drew
:)
[quote]
Mendigo=pauper
M
[
M
Tienes raz
A mi simplemente se me hace un ejemplo fenomenal de la importancia de los acentos. Adem