Le français pour qui parle italien
Vous en savez déjà plus que vous ne le pensez. Sur les 2 264 mots courants de Cognata, 1 708 ont un équivalent apparenté en italien : le même mot, remodelé par des siècles de parole. Partez de ceux-là, apprenez les changements réguliers qui relient les deux langues et gardez les faux amis à l’œil.
- ont une même source
- 75 %
- hérités des deux côtés
- 30 %
- à apprendre tels quels
- 25 %
2 264 mots comparés
Les mots que vous connaissez déjà
Des mots courants dont les formes en italien et en français viennent de la même source.
Les lois phonétiques entre les deux
Des changements réguliers qui transforment un mot en italien en son équivalent en français : apprenez-en un, il sert pour des centaines de mots.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open syllable); e (closed)ie, i (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpietrapierre
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euuo (open syllable); o (closed)eu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnuovoneuf
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)e, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)MAREmaremer
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [y]LŪNAMlunalune
- AU becomes ooo (spelled o or au)AURUMoroor
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n keptnasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentPĀNEMpanepain
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)figliofils
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenmostly kept (p t c)v; t, c lostVĪTAMvitavie
- C before E and Itʃ (c)s (c, ç)CAELUMcielociel
- French CA becomes chaca keptcha, che, chie [ʃ]CABALLUMcavallocheval
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Igi, g [dʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMgiocojeu
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinovin
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- [gw]g(u)- [g]Germanic *WERRAguerraguerre
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altro, caldo)l → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eauALTERUMaltroautre
- CTttit (i + t)NOCTEMnottenuit
- L + yodgli [ʎʎ]il, ill [j]FOLIAMfogliafeuille
- C'L inside a wordcchi [kkj]il, ill [j]OCULUMocchioœil
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordchi- pi- fi-cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMchiaveclé
- NN, GN and N + yodnn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]gn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)ANNUMannoan
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept; takes lo, gli)é- (from es-, s lost)STELLAMstellaétoile
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)FESTAMfestafête
- Italian assimilates clustersassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnsimplified or lost: pt → t; x → sSEPTEMsettesept
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e keptdropped; -A → mute -eLUPUMlupoloup
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (from the nominative)-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupiloups
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tà-téCĪVITĀTEMcittàcité
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gione-tion (learned); inherited -sonRATIŌNEMragioneraison
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iere-ier, -ièreCABALLĀRIUMcavalierechevalier
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEchiaramenteclairement
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilofil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptn kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal vowelLĀNAMlanalaine
- Romanian turns velars into labialstt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)it, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)OCTŌottohuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptt, d, s keptDĪCEREdiredire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)PĀNEMpanepain
Les faux amis à surveiller
fermare (Italien) signifie « to stop » · fermer (Français) signifie « to close, shut »
Both from Latin FIRMĀRE 'to make firm, fix'. Italian holds something still; French makes it fast. Spanish firmar went a third way: 'to sign'.
presto (Italien) signifie « soon, early » · prêt (Français) signifie « ready »
Both from Latin PRAESTŌ 'at hand' (Late Latin adjective PRAESTUS). French kept 'ready'; Italian 'right away' → 'soon'. The two languages crossed with pronto.
magasin (Français) signifie « shop » · magazzino (Italien) signifie « warehouse »
Both from Arabic makhāzin 'storehouses', which entered Romance through Italian; French magasin moved from 'storehouse' to 'shop'. Spanish almacén took the Arabic directly, article and all.
Les mots à apprendre tels quels
Des mots courants pour lesquels le français a suivi son propre chemin.