Italian for Catalan speakers
You already know more Italian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,699 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 → Italian 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 Catalan and Italian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Catalan word into its Italian 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 (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpedrapietra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)uo (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnounuovo
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept)MAREmarmare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMllunaluna
- AU becomes oooAURUMororo
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal voweloral vowel; final n after the stress lost (pa, vi)vowel + n keptPĀNEMpapane
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)fillfiglio
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d g; p t c again at the end of a word (amic, agut)mostly kept (p t c)VĪTAMvidavita
- C before E and Is (c, ç); between vowels lost, or u at the end (veí, deu)tʃ (c)CAELUMcelcielo
- French CA becomes chaca keptca keptCABALLUMcavallcavallo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]gi, g [dʒ]IOCUMjocgioco
- B and V merge in Spanishmerged as in Spanish (Central Catalan); v kept in Balearic and parts of Valenciav kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvivino
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)gu- [gw]Germanic *WERRAguerraguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altre, falç)l kept (altro, caldo)ALTERUMaltrealtro
- CTit, t (the i absorbed by the vowel: nit, fet)ttNOCTEMnitnotte
- L + yodll [ʎ]gli [ʎʎ]FOLIAMfullafoglia
- C'L inside a wordll [ʎ]cchi [kkj]OCULUMullocchio
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordcl- pl- fl- (kept)chi- pi- fi-CLĀVEMclauchiave
- NN, GN and N + yodny [ɲ], also from NN (any)nn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ANNUManyanno
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-s- (kept; takes lo, gli)STELLAMestrellastella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptFESTAMfestafesta
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ix [ʃ]assimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnSEPTEMsetsette
- Final vowelsdropped except -a (said [ə]); -e kept after clusters-o, -a, -e keptLUPUMlloplupo
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-i, -e (from the nominative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)llopslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tat-tàCĪVITĀTEMciutatcittà
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ció (learned); inherited -ó (raó, tió)-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gioneRATIŌNEMraóragione
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-er, -era-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iereCABALLĀRIUMcavallercavaliere
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-ment-menteCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramentchiaramente
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilfilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept; lost where it became final (mà; see final-n)n keptLĀNAMllanalana
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit/t, ix [ʃ], ny; qu, gutt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)OCTŌvuitotto
- 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 kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)PĀNEMpapane
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 Italian went its own way.