L’italien pour qui parle français
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 français : 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 français et en italien viennent de la même source.
Les lois phonétiques entre les deux
Des changements réguliers qui transforment un mot en français en son équivalent en italien : apprenez-en un, il sert pour des centaines de mots.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie, i (open syllable); e (closed)ie (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpierrepietra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eueu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)uo (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMneufnuovo
- French stressed free A becomes ee, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)a (kept)MAREmermare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [y]u [u] (kept)LŪNAMluneluna
- AU becomes oo (spelled o or au)oAURUMororo
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentvowel + n keptPĀNEMpainpane
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filsfiglio
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenv; t, c lostmostly kept (p t c)VĪTAMvievita
- C before E and Is (c, ç)tʃ (c)CAELUMcielcielo
- French CA becomes chacha, che, chie [ʃ]ca keptCABALLUMchevalcavallo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]gi, g [dʒ]IOCUMjeugioco
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinvino
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-g(u)- [g]gu- [gw]Germanic *WERRAguerreguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ul → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eaul kept (altro, caldo)ALTERUMautrealtro
- CTit (i + t)ttNOCTEMnuitnotte
- L + yodil, ill [j]gli [ʎʎ]FOLIAMfeuillefoglia
- C'L inside a wordil, ill [j]cchi [kkj]OCULUMœilocchio
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordcl- pl- fl- (kept)chi- pi- fi-CLĀVEMcléchiave
- NN, GN and N + yodgn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)nn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ANNUMananno
- S + consonant at the start of a wordé- (from es-, s lost)s- (kept; takes lo, gli)STELLAMétoilestella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)s keptFESTAMfêtefesta
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified or lost: pt → t; x → sassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnSEPTEMseptsette
- Final vowelsdropped; -A → mute -e-o, -a, -e keptLUPUMlouplupo
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)-i, -e (from the nominative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)loupslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-té-tàCĪVITĀTEMcitécittà
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-tion (learned); inherited -son-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gioneRATIŌNEMraisonragione
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ier, -ière-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iereCABALLĀRIUMchevaliercavaliere
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-ment-menteCLĀRĀ MENTEclairementchiaramente
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilfilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal voweln keptLĀNAMlainelana
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)tt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)OCTŌhuitotto
- 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 silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)n kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)PĀNEMpainpane
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 l’italien a suivi son propre chemin.