Fortunate – Afortunada, Unfortunate – Infeliz

First Published: 23rd of May, 2021 by Patrick Carpen.

In the English Language, the word “fortunate” means “favored by, or involving, good luck or fortunate.” For example, if you inherit property and a large sum of money, you may be considered fortunate. If you were walking in the forest one day and you stumbled upon a bag of gold, you may also be considered fortunate. On the other hand, if you lost your home in a fire or your car is stolen, you may be considered “unfortunate.”

The word “fortune” in the English language is defined firstly as, “chance or luck as an external arbitrary force affecting human affairs,” and secondly as, “a large amount of money or assets.” The noun “fortune” in the English language is inflected to create a number of related words.

Fortune – noun – root word

Fortunate – adjective – having a fortune or favored by fortune.

Fortunately – adverb – in a manner that is dictated by fortune or good luck.

Unfortunately – adverb – in a manner that is devoid of fortune or good luck.

Here are some examples:

Unfortunately, we were unable to save him.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.

John is a very fortunate lad.

He inherited a fortune.

In the Portuguese language, the inflections follow a different pattern.

Fortune – fortuna

Fortunate – afortunada

Unfortunate – infeliz

Unfortunately – infelizmente

Fortunately – felizmente

The word “feliz” in Portuguese, means “happy.” So, for “fortunately,” they say “happily,” and for “unfortunate” they say “unhappily.”

As you can see, languages evolve differently due to many factors. While a fortunate situation is always a happy situation, the nouns “fortunate” and “happiness” in the English Language are fundamentally different. While a fortune or a fortunate situation may bring happiness, a fortunate person may not necessarily always be happy. Nevertheless, “unfortunate” in Portuguese is “infeliz” which means “unhappy” and unfortunately is “infelizmente” which means “unhappily,” but “fortunate” means “afortunado” which is the same as “fortunate.”