French for Romanian speakers
You already know more French than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,329 have a Romanian 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 Romanian → French and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 59%
- inherited on both sides
- 12%
- to learn fresh
- 41%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Romanian and French forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Romanian word into its French cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)ie, i (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpiatrăpierre
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)eu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnouneuf
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept); â before n (câine)e, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)MAREmaremer
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [y]LŪNAMlunălune
- AU becomes oau (kept); ău unstressedo (spelled o or au)AURUMauror
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)nasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentPĀNEMpâinepain
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)fiufils
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenkept (p t c)v; t, c lostVĪTAMvităvie
- C before E and Itʃ (c)s (c, ç)CAELUMcerciel
- French CA becomes chaca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)cha, che, chie [ʃ]CABALLUMcalcheval
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)j, g [ʒ]IOCUMjocjeu
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)v kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinvin
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (alt, cald)l → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eauALTERUMaltautre
- CTptit (i + t)NOCTEMnoaptenuit
- L + yodi [j] (the l lost)il, ill [j]FOLIAMfoaiefeuille
- C'L inside a wordchi, che [kʲ]il, ill [j]OCULUMochiœil
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordCL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptcl- pl- fl- (kept)CLĀVEMcheieclé
- NN, GN and N + yodNI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)gn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)ANNUManan
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept)é- (from es-, s lost)STELLAMsteaétoile
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)COSTAMcoastăcôte
- Italian assimilates clusterspt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, pssimplified or lost: pt → t; x → sSEPTEMșaptesept
- Final vowels-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonantdropped; -A → mute -eLUPUMluploup
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neuters-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupiloups
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tate-téCĪVITĀTEMcetatecité
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)-tion (learned); inherited -sonRATIŌNEMrațiune (learned)raison
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ar, -are (căldare)-ier, -ièreCALDĀRIAMcăldarechaudière
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianr (cer, fir, sare)l keptFĪLUMfirfil
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)n kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal vowelLĀNAMlânălaine
- Romanian turns velars into labialspt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)it, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)OCTŌopthuit
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șț [ts], z, ș [ʃ]t, d, s keptDĪCEREzicedire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept (pâine, vin)n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)PĀNEMpâinepain
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.