Perfect German Cognates
Perfect Cognates are words that are exactly the same in English and German. Below is a table with examples of perfect cognates.
Perfect Cognates are words that are exactly the same in English and German. Below is a table with examples of perfect cognates.
Adjectives
|
Nouns
| ||
Der
|
Die
|
Das
| |
Elegant
e-le-gAnt |
Bandit
bAn-deet |
Basis
bah-zis |
Folk
folk |
International
in-teR-nA-tsio-nahl |
Café
kA-fe |
Inspiration
een-spee-RA-tsion |
Museum
mew-zey-oom |
Modern
moh-deRn |
Jaguar
yah-gooahr |
Olive
ohlee-vuh |
Organ
oR-gahn |
Parallel
pA-rA-lehl |
Motor
moh-tohr |
Religion
rey-lee-geeohn |
Photo
foh-to |
Wild
vilt |
President
pRey-zee-dent |
Tiger
tee-guhr |
System
süs-teym |
Note: All
German nouns are preceded by three distinct definite articles: the
masculine article der , the feminine article die or
the neuter articledas. All plural nouns are preceded by
the plural article die .
Near Cognates
Near cognates are words that are spelt almost the same in English and German. Although their spellings differ, their meanings are the same. Below is a table with examples of near cognates:
Adjectives
|
Nouns
| ||
Der
|
Die
|
Das
| |
Populär
poh-pew-l ä hR |
Supermarket
zew-peR-maRkt |
Theorie
te-oh-Ree |
Salz
zAlts |
Perfect
peR-fekt |
Stamm
shtAm |
Rhetorik
Reh-toh-Rik |
Programm
pRo-gRam |
Kalt
kAlt |
Ozean
ohtse-ahn |
Methode
me-toh-duh |
Papier
pah-peeR |
direkt
dee-Rekt |
Doktor
dook-tohr |
Gitarre
gee-tA-Ruh |
Glas
glahs |
frei
fRay |
Kaffee
kA-fey |
Kassette
kA-se-tuh |
Herz
heRts |
Not all Words are Cognates
No
shortcut is without its pitfalls. Now that you've mastered the art of
using words you already know to figure out words in German you didn't
know you knew, we must warn you about 'false friends'. In language as
in life, false friends are misleading. What are 'false friends' in
language? They are words spelled the same or almost the same in
German and in English that have different meanings. Don't assume you
already know the meaning ofevery German word that looks
like an English word. It's not always that simple. The following
table lists some common 'false friends':
English
|
Part of Speech
|
German
|
Part of Speech
|
Meaning
|
After
|
adverb
|
der After
Af-tuhR |
noun
|
anus
|
Also
|
adverb
|
also
Al-zoh |
conjunction
|
so, therefore
|
Bald
|
adjective
|
bald
bAlt |
adverb
|
soon
|
Brief
|
adjective
|
der Brief
bReef |
noun
|
letter, official document
|
Chef
|
noun
|
der Chef
shef |
noun
|
boss
|
Closet
|
noun
|
das Klosett
kloh-zet |
noun
|
toilet bowl
|
Kind
|
adjective
|
das Kind
kint |
noun
|
child
|
Most
|
adjective
|
der Most
most |
noun
|
young wine
|
Note
|
verb
|
die Note
noh-tuh |
noun
|
grade
|
See
|
verb
|
der See
zey |
noun
|
lake
|
