Italian for Portuguese speakers
You already know more Italian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,637 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 → Italian and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 72%
- inherited on both sides
- 26%
- to learn fresh
- 28%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Portuguese and Italian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Portuguese word into its Italian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into iee [ɛ] (no diphthong)ie (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpedrapietra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)uo (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnovonuovo
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept)MAREmarmare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlualuna
- AU becomes oou (said [o] in Brazil)oAURUMourooro
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel or diphthong too (pão, bom, fim)vowel + n keptPĀNEMpãopane
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filhofiglio
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d gmostly kept (p t c)VĪTAMvidavita
- C before E and Is (c, ç); z [z] between vowelstʃ (c)CAELUMcéucielo
- French CA becomes chaca keptca keptCABALLUMcavalocavallo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]gi, g [dʒ]IOCUMjogogioco
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinhovino
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)gu- [gw]Germanic *WERRAguerraguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ual → ou, oi in some words (outro, foice); written l elsewhere, said [w] in Brazill kept (altro, caldo)ALTERUMoutroaltro
- CTit (i + t)ttNOCTEMnoitenotte
- L + yodlh [ʎ]gli [ʎʎ]FOLIAMfolhafoglia
- C'L inside a wordlh [ʎ]cchi [kkj]OCULUMolhoocchio
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordch- [ʃ]chi- pi- fi-CLĀVEMchavechiave
- NN, GN and N + yodnh [ɲ]; NN → nnn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ANNUManoanno
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-s- (kept; takes lo, gli)STELLAMestrelastella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptFESTAMfestafesta
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ss or ix [jʃ]assimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnSEPTEMsetesette
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, n-o, -a, -e keptLUPUMlobolupo
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-i, -e (from the nominative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)loboslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-dade (-tade after a consonant)-tàCĪVITĀTEMcidadecittà
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ção (learned and inherited alike: nação, razão)-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gioneRATIŌNEMrazãoragione
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-eiro, -eira-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iereCABALLĀRIUMcavaleirocavaliere
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-menteCLĀRĀ MENTEclaramentechiaramente
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianlost (céu, fio, cor)l keptFĪLUMfiofilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelslost, nasalizing the vowel (lã, mão); later often oral (lua, boa) or nh (vinho)n keptLĀNAMlãlana
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, x [ʃ], nh; qu, gutt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)OCTŌoitootto
- 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 kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)PĀNEMpãopane
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 Italian went its own way.