Italian for Romanian speakers
You already know more Italian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,360 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.
- share a source
- 60%
- inherited on both sides
- 14%
- to learn fresh
- 40%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Romanian and Italian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Romanian word into its Italian 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 (open syllable); e (closed)PETRAMpiatrăpietra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)uo (open syllable); o (closed)NOVUMnounuovo
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept); â before n (câine)a (kept)MAREmaremare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunăluna
- AU becomes oau (kept); ău unstressedoAURUMauroro
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)vowel + n keptPĀNEMpâinepane
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)fiufiglio
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenkept (p t c)mostly kept (p t c)VĪTAMvităvita
- C before E and Itʃ (c)tʃ (c)CAELUMcercielo
- French CA becomes chaca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)ca keptCABALLUMcalcavallo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)gi, g [dʒ]IOCUMjocgioco
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)v kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinvino
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (alt, cald)l kept (altro, caldo)ALTERUMaltaltro
- CTptttNOCTEMnoaptenotte
- L + yodi [j] (the l lost)gli [ʎʎ]FOLIAMfoaiefoglia
- C'L inside a wordchi, che [kʲ]cchi [kkj]OCULUMochiocchio
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordCL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptchi- pi- fi-CLĀVEMcheiechiave
- NN, GN and N + yodNI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)nn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]ANNUMananno
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept)s- (kept; takes lo, gli)STELLAMsteastella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptCOSTAMcoastăcosta
- Italian assimilates clusterspt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, psassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnSEPTEMșaptesette
- Final vowels-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonant-o, -a, -e keptLUPUMluplupo
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neuters-i, -e (from the nominative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupilupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tate-tàCĪVITĀTEMcetatecittà
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gioneRATIŌNEMrațiune (learned)ragione
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ar, -are (căldare)-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iereCALDĀRIAMcăldarecaldaia
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianr (cer, fir, sare)l keptFĪLUMfirfilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)n keptLĀNAMlânălana
- Romanian turns velars into labialspt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)tt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)OCTŌoptotto
- 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 kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)PĀNEMpâinepane
False friends to watch
lume (Romanian) means “world; people” · lume (Italian) means “lamp, light”
Both from Latin LŪMEN 'light'. Romanian shifted it to 'world' after Slavic světъ, which meant both; toată lumea is 'everybody'. Italian kept the light.
frate (Romanian) means “brother” · frate (Italian) means “friar, monk”
Both from Latin FRĀTREM 'brother'. Romanian kept it for family; Italian left the plain form to the Church and uses the diminutive fratello for a sibling. Romanian soră 'sister' and Italian suora 'nun' split the same way.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where Italian went its own way.