Il francese per chi parla spagnolo
Sai già più francese di quanto pensi. Delle 2.264 parole quotidiane di Cognata, 1.592 hanno un’affine in spagnolo: la stessa parola, rimodellata da secoli di parlato. Parti da quelle, impara i cambiamenti regolari che legano le due lingue e tieni d’occhio i falsi amici.
- hanno la stessa origine
- 70%
- ereditate da entrambe
- 24%
- da imparare da zero
- 30%
2.264 parole a confronto
Parole che conosci già
Parole quotidiane le cui forme in spagnolo e in francese vengono dalla stessa origine.
Le leggi fonetiche tra le due
Cambiamenti regolari che trasformano una parola in spagnolo nella sua affine in francese: imparane uno e vale per centinaia di parole.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open and closed syllables)ie, i (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpiedrapierre
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euue (open and closed syllables)eu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnuevoneuf
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)e, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)MAREmarmer
- 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 silentPĀNEMpanpain
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)h- (silent); f- kept before ue and rf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)hijofils
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb d gv; t, c lostVĪTAMvidavie
- C before E and Iθ (c, z); s where there is seseos (c, ç)CAELUMcielociel
- French CA becomes chaca keptcha, che, chie [ʃ]CABALLUMcaballocheval
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij [x] before a back vowel; y-, h- or nothing before ej, g [ʒ]IOCUMjuegojeu
- B and V merge in Spanishone sound: b, v = [b] (soft [β] between vowels)v kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinovin
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)g(u)- [g]Germanic *WERRAguerraguerre
- L before a consonant becomes ual → o (otro); ult → uch (mucho); often keptl → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eauALTERUMotroautre
- CTch [tʃ]it (i + t)NOCTEMnochenuit
- L + yodj [x]il, ill [j]FOLIAMhojafeuille
- C'L inside a wordj [x]il, ill [j]OCULUMojoœil
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordll- (often)cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMllaveclé
- NN, GN and N + yodñ [ɲ]gn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)ANNUMañoan
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-é- (from es-, s lost)STELLAMestrellaétoile
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)FESTAMfiestafête
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t; mn → ñ; x → j [x] or ssimplified or lost: pt → t; x → sSEPTEMsietesept
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept; -e dropped after a single r, l, n, s, d, zdropped; -A → mute -eLUPUMloboloup
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lobosloups
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-dad (-tad in some words after a consonant)-téCĪVITĀTEMciudadcité
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ción (learned); inherited -zón-tion (learned); inherited -sonRATIŌNEMrazónraison
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ero, -era-ier, -ièreCABALLĀRIUMcaballerochevalier
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramenteclairement
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMhilofil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptn kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal vowelLĀNAMlanalaine
- Romanian turns velars into labialsch, j, ñ; cu, gu (velar kept or palatalized)it, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)OCTŌochohuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptt, d, s keptDĪCEREdecirdire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept (pan, vino)n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)PĀNEMpanpain
Falsi amici da tenere d’occhio
large (Francese) significa “wide” · largo (Spagnolo) significa “long”
Same Latin LARGUM 'abundant'. French large is 'wide' (and English large 'big' came from it); Spanish largo is 'long'.
salir (Spagnolo) significa “to go out, leave” · salir (Francese) significa “to make dirty”
Coincidence. Spanish salir is Latin SALĪRE 'to jump'; French salir comes from sale 'dirty', of Frankish origin (*salo 'murky').
attendre (Francese) significa “to wait (for)” · atender (Spagnolo) significa “to attend to, serve”
Both from Latin ATTENDERE 'to stretch toward, pay attention'. French went from 'paying attention to' to 'waiting for'; Spanish kept the attention.
rester (Francese) significa “to stay” · restar (Spagnolo) significa “to subtract”
Both from Latin RESTĀRE 'to stay behind, remain'. Spanish restar went from 'what remains' to 'take away' (lo que resta still means 'what is left').
quitter (Francese) significa “to leave (a place, a person)” · quitar (Spagnolo) significa “to remove, take off”
Both from Medieval Latin QUIĒTĀRE 'to set free (of a debt)', from QUIĒTUS 'at rest'. French frees itself of a place; Spanish frees something from its place.
entendre (Francese) significa “to hear” · entender (Spagnolo) significa “to understand”
Both from Latin INTENDERE 'to direct (the mind) toward'. French shifted to hearing, keeping 'understand' only in phrases (laisser entendre, bien entendu); Spanish kept understanding.
ropa (Spagnolo) significa “clothes” · robe (Francese) significa “dress”
Both from Germanic *rauba 'booty, spoils' — clothes being what was stripped from the defeated (Spanish robar 'to steal' is the same root). Spanish generalized it; French narrowed it to one garment.
demander (Francese) significa “to ask (for)” · demandar (Spagnolo) significa “to sue; to demand”
Both from Latin DĒMANDĀRE 'to entrust'. French softened it to ordinary asking (as did Italian domandare); Spanish kept the legal claim.
nombre (Spagnolo) significa “name” · nombre (Francese) significa “number”
Two Latin words that converged: Spanish nombre is NŌMEN 'name', from its oblique stem NŌMINE (m'n → mbr), French nombre is NUMERUM 'number' (m'r → mbr).
user (Francese) significa “to wear out” · usar (Spagnolo) significa “to use”
Both from spoken Latin *ŪSĀRE, built on ŪSUS 'use'. French narrowed it to using something up (user ses chaussures); user de 'to make use of' survives only in formal French.
envie (Francese) significa “desire, urge (avoir envie de: to want)” · envidia (Spagnolo) significa “envy”
Both from Latin INVIDIAM 'envy'. French envie still can mean envy, but its everyday use is 'wanting'; j'ai envie de café is 'I feel like a coffee', not jealousy.
crier (Francese) significa “to shout” · criar (Spagnolo) significa “to raise, bring up”
Coincidence. French crier comes from spoken Latin *CRĪTĀRE (classical QUIRĪTĀRE 'to cry out') — the source of Spanish gritar too; Spanish criar is CREĀRE 'to create, beget'.
Parole da imparare da zero
Parole comuni in cui il francese ha fatto di testa sua.