False friend: irritated

Irritated – (adjective) annoyed, angered (German: gereizt)
Does NOT mean: irritiert, or confused
Example: “I was irritated because of the heavy traffic.”
à in this sentence, irritated refers to how they feel (annoyed, not confused).

 

Practice:

1) Some English and German words sound the same but have different meanings. This can be very ______ to Germans who are trying to learn English.

a. irritate
b. confusing
c. scaring

 

2) He was in a bad mood and extremely _________, because he had had only a few hours of sleep the night before.

            a. confused
            b. irritable
            c. irritating

  

3) It sometimes _______ and annoys me when people make jokes about my home country.

            a. irritates
            b. irritating
            c. irritable

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

answer: 1)b. confusing   2)b. irritable   3)a. irritates