Catalan for Italian speakers
You already know more Catalan than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,699 have a Italian cognate — the same word, reshaped by centuries of speech. Start from those, learn the regular changes that link the two languages, and keep the false friends in sight.
Sets your pairing to Italian → Catalan and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 75%
- inherited on both sides
- 29%
- to learn fresh
- 25%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Italian and Catalan forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Italian word into its Catalan cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open syllable); e (closed)e [ɛ] (no diphthong); i next to a palatal (llit)PETRAMpietrapedra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euuo (open syllable); o (closed)o [ɔ] (no diphthong)NOVUMnuovonou
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept)MAREmaremar
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunalluna
- AU becomes oooAURUMoroor
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n keptoral vowel; final n after the stress lost (pa, vi)PĀNEMpanepa
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)figliofill
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenmostly kept (p t c)b (v) d g; p t c again at the end of a word (amic, agut)VĪTAMvitavida
- C before E and Itʃ (c)s (c, ç); between vowels lost, or u at the end (veí, deu)CAELUMcielocel
- French CA becomes chaca keptca keptCABALLUMcavallocavall
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Igi, g [dʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMgiocojoc
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vmerged as in Spanish (Central Catalan); v kept in Balearic and parts of ValenciaVĪNUMvinovi
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- [gw]gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)Germanic *WERRAguerraguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altro, caldo)l kept (altre, falç)ALTERUMaltroaltre
- CTttit, t (the i absorbed by the vowel: nit, fet)NOCTEMnottenit
- L + yodgli [ʎʎ]ll [ʎ]FOLIAMfogliafulla
- C'L inside a wordcchi [kkj]ll [ʎ]OCULUMocchioull
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordchi- pi- fi-cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMchiaveclau
- NN, GN and N + yodnn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ny [ɲ], also from NN (any)ANNUMannoany
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept; takes lo, gli)es-STELLAMstellaestrella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptFESTAMfestafesta
- Italian assimilates clustersassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnsimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ix [ʃ]SEPTEMsetteset
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e keptdropped except -a (said [ə]); -e kept after clustersLUPUMlupollop
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (from the nominative)-s, -es (from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupillops
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tà-tatCĪVITĀTEMcittàciutat
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gione-ció (learned); inherited -ó (raó, tió)RATIŌNEMragioneraó
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iere-er, -eraCABALLĀRIUMcavalierecavaller
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEchiaramenteclarament
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilofil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptn kept; lost where it became final (mà; see final-n)LĀNAMlanallana
- Romanian turns velars into labialstt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)it/t, ix [ʃ], ny; qu, guOCTŌottovuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptt, d, s keptDĪCEREdiredir
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)lost (pa, vi); back in the plural (pans, vins)PĀNEMpanepa
False friends to watch
mare (Catalan) means “mother” · mare (Italian) means “sea”
Coincidence. Catalan mare is MĀTREM worn down (as pare is PATREM); Italian mare is Latin MARE 'sea'. Romanian mare is 'sea' too — and also 'big'.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where Catalan went its own way.