L’italiano per chi parla francese
Sai già più italiano di quanto pensi. Delle 2.264 parole quotidiane di Cognata, 1.708 hanno un’affine in francese: 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
- 75%
- ereditate da entrambe
- 30%
- da imparare da zero
- 25%
2.264 parole a confronto
Parole che conosci già
Parole quotidiane le cui forme in francese e in italiano vengono dalla stessa origine.
Le leggi fonetiche tra le due
Cambiamenti regolari che trasformano una parola in francese nella sua affine in italiano: imparane uno e vale per centinaia di parole.
- 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
Falsi amici da tenere d’occhio
fermare (Italiano) significa “to stop” · fermer (Francese) significa “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 (Italiano) significa “soon, early” · prêt (Francese) significa “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 (Francese) significa “shop” · magazzino (Italiano) significa “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.
Parole da imparare da zero
Parole comuni in cui l’italiano ha fatto di testa sua.