“Sympathic” does not exist in English

by Jakub Marian

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Sympathique in French or sympathisch in Germanthe word has spread in some form probably to all European languages, with one major exception: English. That’s right, “sympathic” is not an English word, as a quick search in any respectable dictionary will tell you.

So how do you translate “sympathic” (I’ll use this word to refer to its meaning in other languages) into English when there is no such word? The fact is: you don’t. There’s no direct English equivalent for what “sympathic” or “sympatic” is expected to mean by speakers of other languages, so you will have to work with words like “nice”, “kind”, “likeable”, etc.:

correct She’s a very nice girl.
wrong She’s a sympathic girl.

You can also use the word “like” if you find somebody “sympathic”:

correct I like her.
wrong I find her sympathic.

There is one word that has a meaning similar to “sympathic”: congenial. Unlike “sympathic”, “congenial” is a fairly formal word and using it in everyday conversation could make you sound pretentious, so I advise against using it unless you know what you are doing.

So far, so good, but there is one more trap many learners fall into. In English, there is the word “sympathetic”, which means “compassionate to someone or approving of something”, but not “sympathic”:

correct She was a very sympathetic listener when I felt sad.
wrong I find her sympathetic; she is nice and pretty.

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