RECUPERATE vs. MAKE UP

Good morning everybody. Today we are going to look at a verb that causes a lot of confusion for Spanish-speaking English students: recuperate. It does NOT mean what you think, so we say it is a false friend. Recuperate means: to become well again after an illness; to get back your strength, your health, etc. Example 1: Rebecca is at home recuperating after the operation. Recuperate does NOT mean: to do a class that you could not attend or to do work you have not done. To express this meaning we us the phrasal verb to make up. Example 2: This Friday we can make up the class we cancelled last week. Example 3: I'm going to do a make-up course (curso de recuperación) in the summer. (In this last example, make up is acting as an adjective.) REMEMBER: The Spanish translation of recuperate is recuperarse (physically), reponerse or restablecerse. If anyone has any questions about this false friend, please contact me. Have an excellent day!