Learn Spanish words fast just by reading this post. You can learn around 250 Spanish words, most of them adjectives.
How can I learn Spanish words fast?
In order to add Spanish words fast to your vocabulary and speech, we can use cognates.
What are “cognates”?
“Cognates” are the words that share their roots (stems) in both your language, English, and your target language, Spanish.
How does the cognate “-IC to -ICO” work?
We are going to practice English words ending in “-IC” which in Spanish end in “-ICO”. For example: “plastic” will be “plástico”. As you can see, these words share their root “plast” and we only need to change “-IC” for “-ICO”.
Can you see if there is a pattern you may use for any other words similar to “plastic”? If “plastic” translates to “plástico” in Spanish, what will be “-magic” in Spanish?
You can add Spanish words to your vocabulary fast, around 250 by using this easy pattern.
Would you like to try with “academic”? Try to work out the Spanish word and check your answer in the table bellow.
There are around 250 Spanish words you can use just by changing their “-IC” ending to “-ICO” ending. Remember that “-IC” maybe “-ICA” instead of “-ICO” if the word they go with is feminine. For example: el libro es fantást-ico, la televisión es fantást-ica.
The Spanish words most commonly used related to this cognate are the following:
English![]() | Spanish ![]() | English![]() | Spanish![]() |
academic | académico | generic | genérico |
acrobatic | acrobático | dynamic | dinámico |
alcoholic | alcohólico | artistic | artístico |
authentic | auténtico | basic | básico |
characteristic | característico | comic | cómico |
plastic | pástico | classic | clásico |
democratic | democrático | dynamic | dinámico |
erotic | erótico | exotic | exótico |
diplomatic | diplomático | domestic | doméstico |
dramatic | dramático | economic | económico |
electronic | electrónico | automatic | automático |
dramatic | dramático | fantastic | fantástico |
cosmetic | cosmético | genetic | genético |
geometric | geométrico | heroic | heróico |
ironic | irónico | magic | mágico |
organic | orgánico | panic | pánico |
poetic | poético | public | público |
romanic | románico | gothic | gótico |
jonic | jónico | systematic | sistémico |
tragic | trágico | problematic | problemático |
attic | ático | systematic | sistemático |
Following this post we will also work more cognate patterns like “tion-ción”, “ous-oso”, “ate-ar”, “ary-ario”, “ty-dad”, “ct-cto”. Don’t miss them!
This is one of the tricks to learn Spanish words fast!