Portuguese for Italian speakers
You already know more Portuguese than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,637 have a Italian 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 Italian → Portuguese 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 Italian and Portuguese forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Italian word into its Portuguese cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open syllable); e (closed)e [ɛ] (no diphthong)PETRAMpietrapedra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euuo (open syllable); o (closed)o [ɔ] (no diphthong)NOVUMnuovonovo
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept)MAREmaremar
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunalua
- AU becomes ooou (said [o] in Brazil)AURUMoroouro
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n keptnasal vowel or diphthong too (pão, bom, fim)PĀNEMpanepão
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)figliofilho
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenmostly kept (p t c)b (v) d gVĪTAMvitavida
- C before E and Itʃ (c)s (c, ç); z [z] between vowelsCAELUMcielocéu
- French CA becomes chaca keptca keptCABALLUMcavallocavalo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Igi, g [dʒ]j, g [ʒ]IOCUMgiocojogo
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B between vowels → vVĪNUMvinovinho
- Germanic W- becomes gu- / g-gu- [gw]gu- ([gw] before a, o; [g] before e, i)Germanic *WERRAguerraguerra
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altro, caldo)al → ou, oi in some words (outro, foice); written l elsewhere, said [w] in BrazilALTERUMaltrooutro
- CTttit (i + t)NOCTEMnottenoite
- L + yodgli [ʎʎ]lh [ʎ]FOLIAMfogliafolha
- C'L inside a wordcchi [kkj]lh [ʎ]OCULUMocchioolho
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordchi- pi- fi-ch- [ʃ]CLĀVEMchiavechave
- NN, GN and N + yodnn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]nh [ɲ]; NN → nANNUMannoano
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept; takes lo, gli)es-STELLAMstellaestrela
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptFESTAMfestafesta
- Italian assimilates clustersassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnsimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ss or ix [jʃ]SEPTEMsettesete
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, nLUPUMlupolobo
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (from the nominative)-s, -es (from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupilobos
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tà-dade (-tade after a consonant)CĪVITĀTEMcittàcidade
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gione-ção (learned and inherited alike: nação, razão)RATIŌNEMragionerazão
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iere-eiro, -eiraCABALLĀRIUMcavalierecavaleiro
- Adverbs in -mente / -ment-mente-menteCLĀRĀ MENTEchiaramenteclaramente
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptlost (céu, fio, cor)FĪLUMfilofio
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptlost, nasalizing the vowel (lã, mão); later often oral (lua, boa) or nh (vinho)LĀNAMlanalã
- Romanian turns velars into labialstt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)it, x [ʃ], nh; qu, guOCTŌottooito
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptkept; t, d said [tʃ], [dʒ] before i in Brazil (dia)DĪCEREdiredizer
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)nasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)PĀNEMpanepão
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 Portuguese went its own way.