French for Catalan speakers
You already know more French than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,618 have a Catalan 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 Catalan → French and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 71%
- inherited on both sides
- 27%
- to learn fresh
- 29%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Catalan and French forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Catalan word into its French cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into iee [ɛ] (no diphthong); i next to a palatal (llit)ie, i (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpedrapierre
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)eu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnouneuf
- 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]LŪNAMllunalune
- AU becomes ooo (spelled o or au)AURUMoror
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal voweloral vowel; final n after the stress lost (pa, vi)nasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentPĀNEMpapain
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)fillfils
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d g; p t c again at the end of a word (amic, agut)v; t, c lostVĪTAMvidavie
- C before E and Is (c, ç); between vowels lost, or u at the end (veí, deu)s (c, ç)CAELUMcelciel
- French CA becomes chaca keptcha, che, chie [ʃ]CABALLUMcavallcheval
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMjocjeu
- B and V merge in Spanishmerged as in Spanish (Central Catalan); v kept in Balearic and parts of Valenciav kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvivin
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)g(u)- [g]Germanic *WERRAguerraguerre
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altre, falç)l → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eauALTERUMaltreautre
- CTit, t (the i absorbed by the vowel: nit, fet)it (i + t)NOCTEMnitnuit
- L + yodll [ʎ]il, ill [j]FOLIAMfullafeuille
- C'L inside a wordll [ʎ]il, ill [j]OCULUMullœil
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordcl- pl- fl- (kept)cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMclauclé
- NN, GN and N + yodny [ɲ], also from NN (any)gn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)ANNUManyan
- 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)FESTAMfestafête
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ix [ʃ]simplified or lost: pt → t; x → sSEPTEMsetsept
- Final vowelsdropped except -a (said [ə]); -e kept after clustersdropped; -A → mute -eLUPUMlloploup
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)llopsloups
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tat-téCĪVITĀTEMciutatcité
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ció (learned); inherited -ó (raó, tió)-tion (learned); inherited -sonRATIŌNEMraóraison
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-er, -era-ier, -ièreCABALLĀRIUMcavallerchevalier
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-ment-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramentclairement
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilfil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept; lost where it became final (mà; see final-n)n kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal vowelLĀNAMllanalaine
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit/t, ix [ʃ], ny; qu, guit, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)OCTŌvuithuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptt, d, s keptDĪCEREdirdire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordlost (pa, vi); back in the plural (pans, vins)n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)PĀNEMpapain
False friends to watch
voler (Catalan) means “to want” · voler (French) means “to fly; to steal”
Coincidence. Catalan voler is spoken Latin *VOLĒRE (for VELLE 'to want'), the source of French vouloir; French voler is VOLĀRE 'to fly', and 'to steal' came from the falconer's bird flying off with its prey.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where French went its own way.