Italian for French speakers
You already know more Italian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,708 have a French 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.
- share a source
- 75%
- inherited on both sides
- 30%
- to learn fresh
- 25%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose French and Italian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a French word into its Italian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie, i (open syllable); e (closed)ie (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpierrepietra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eueu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)uo (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMneufnuovo
- French stressed free A becomes ee, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)a (kept)MAREmermare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [y]u [u] (kept)LŪNAMluneluna
- AU becomes oo (spelled o or au)oAURUMororo
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentvowel + n keptPĀNEMpainpane
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filsfiglio
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenv; t, c lostmostly kept (p t c)VĪTAMvievita
- C before E and Is (c, ç)tʃ (c)CAELUMcielcielo
- French CA becomes chacha, che, chie [ʃ]ca keptCABALLUMchevalcavallo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]gi, g [dʒ]IOCUMjeugioco
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinvino
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-g(u)- [g]gu- [gw]Germanic *WERRAguerreguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ul → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eaul kept (altro, caldo)ALTERUMautrealtro
- CTit (i + t)ttNOCTEMnuitnotte
- L + yodil, ill [j]gli [ʎʎ]FOLIAMfeuillefoglia
- C'L inside a wordil, ill [j]cchi [kkj]OCULUMœilocchio
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordcl- pl- fl- (kept)chi- pi- fi-CLĀVEMcléchiave
- NN, GN and N + yodgn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)nn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ANNUMananno
- S + consonant at the start of a wordé- (from es-, s lost)s- (kept; takes lo, gli)STELLAMétoilestella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)s keptFESTAMfêtefesta
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified or lost: pt → t; x → sassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnSEPTEMseptsette
- Final vowelsdropped; -A → mute -e-o, -a, -e keptLUPUMlouplupo
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)-i, -e (from the nominative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)loupslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-té-tàCĪVITĀTEMcitécittà
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-tion (learned); inherited -son-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gioneRATIŌNEMraisonragione
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ier, -ière-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iereCABALLĀRIUMchevaliercavaliere
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-ment-menteCLĀRĀ MENTEclairementchiaramente
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptl keptFĪLUMfilfilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal voweln keptLĀNAMlainelana
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)tt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)OCTŌhuitotto
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptt, d, s keptDĪCEREdiredire
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)n kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)PĀNEMpainpane
False friends to watch
fermare (Italian) means “to stop” · fermer (French) means “to close, shut”
Both from Latin FIRMĀRE 'to make firm, fix'. Italian holds something still; French makes it fast. Spanish firmar went a third way: 'to sign'.
presto (Italian) means “soon, early” · prêt (French) means “ready”
Both from Latin PRAESTŌ 'at hand' (Late Latin adjective PRAESTUS). French kept 'ready'; Italian 'right away' → 'soon'. The two languages crossed with pronto.
magasin (French) means “shop” · magazzino (Italian) means “warehouse”
Both from Arabic makhāzin 'storehouses', which entered Romance through Italian; French magasin moved from 'storehouse' to 'shop'. Spanish almacén took the Arabic directly, article and all.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where Italian went its own way.