French for Portuguese speakers
You already know more French than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,528 have a Portuguese 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 Portuguese → French and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 67%
- inherited on both sides
- 23%
- to learn fresh
- 33%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Portuguese and French forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Portuguese word into its French cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into iee [ɛ] (no diphthong)ie, i (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpedrapierre
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)eu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnovoneuf
- 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]LŪNAMlualune
- AU becomes oou (said [o] in Brazil)o (spelled o or au)AURUMouroor
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel or diphthong too (pão, bom, fim)nasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentPĀNEMpãopain
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filhofils
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d gv; t, c lostVĪTAMvidavie
- C before E and Is (c, ç); z [z] between vowelss (c, ç)CAELUMcéuciel
- French CA becomes chaca keptcha, che, chie [ʃ]CABALLUMcavalocheval
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMjogojeu
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinhovin
- 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 → ou, oi in some words (outro, foice); written l elsewhere, said [w] in Brazill → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eauALTERUMoutroautre
- CTit (i + t)it (i + t)NOCTEMnoitenuit
- L + yodlh [ʎ]il, ill [j]FOLIAMfolhafeuille
- C'L inside a wordlh [ʎ]il, ill [j]OCULUMolhoœil
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordch- [ʃ]cl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMchaveclé
- NN, GN and N + yodnh [ɲ]; NN → ngn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)ANNUManoan
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-é- (from es-, s lost)STELLAMestrelaétoile
- 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 → ss or ix [jʃ]simplified or lost: pt → t; x → sSEPTEMsetesept
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, ndropped; -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-dade (-tade after a consonant)-téCĪVITĀTEMcidadecité
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ção (learned and inherited alike: nação, razão)-tion (learned); inherited -sonRATIŌNEMrazãoraison
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-eiro, -eira-ier, -ièreCABALLĀRIUMcavaleirochevalier
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-mentCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramenteclairement
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianlost (céu, fio, cor)l keptFĪLUMfiofil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelslost, nasalizing the vowel (lã, mão); later often oral (lua, boa) or nh (vinho)n kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal vowelLĀNAMlãlaine
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, x [ʃ], nh; qu, guit, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)OCTŌoitohuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șkept; t, d said [tʃ], [dʒ] before i in Brazil (dia)t, d, s keptDĪCEREdizerdire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordnasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)PĀNEMpãopain
False friends to watch
No classic traps between these two in Cognata yet — but every word page flags the ones it knows.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where French went its own way.