Romanian for French speakers
You already know more Romanian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,329 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.
Sets your pairing to French → Romanian and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 59%
- inherited on both sides
- 12%
- to learn fresh
- 41%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose French and Romanian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a French word into its Romanian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie, i (open syllable); e (closed)ie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)PETRAMpierrepiatră
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eueu, œu (open syllable); o (closed)o; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)NOVUMneufnou
- French stressed free A becomes ee, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)a (kept); â before n (câine)MAREmermare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [y]u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunelună
- AU becomes oo (spelled o or au)au (kept); ău unstressedAURUMoraur
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel (ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃); n/m silentvowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)PĀNEMpainpâine
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filsfiu
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenv; t, c lostkept (p t c)VĪTAMvievită
- C before E and Is (c, ç)tʃ (c)CAELUMcielcer
- French CA becomes chacha, che, chie [ʃ]ca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)CABALLUMchevalcal
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]j [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)IOCUMjeujoc
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)VĪNUMvinvin
- L before a consonant becomes ul → u, fused with the vowel: au [o], ou [u], eaul kept (alt, cald)ALTERUMautrealt
- CTit (i + t)ptNOCTEMnuitnoapte
- L + yodil, ill [j]i [j] (the l lost)FOLIAMfeuillefoaie
- C'L inside a wordil, ill [j]chi, che [kʲ]OCULUMœilochi
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordcl- pl- fl- (kept)CL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptCLĀVEMclécheie
- NN, GN and N + yodgn [ɲ]; NN → n (nasal vowel at the end)NI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)ANNUManan
- S + consonant at the start of a wordé- (from es-, s lost)s- (kept)STELLAMétoilestea
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s lost; often marked ^ (ê â ô î û)s keptCOSTAMcôtecoastă
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified or lost: pt → t; x → spt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, psSEPTEMseptșapte
- Final vowelsdropped; -A → mute -e-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonantLUPUMlouplup
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -x (written, mostly silent; from the accusative)-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neutersLUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)loupslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-té-tateCĪVITĀTEMcitécetate
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-tion (learned); inherited -son-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)RATIŌNEMraisonrațiune (learned)
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ier, -ière-ar, -are (căldare)CALDĀRIAMchaudièrecăldare
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptr (cer, fir, sare)FĪLUMfilfir
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept between vowels; at the end, a nasal voweln kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)LĀNAMlainelână
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, iss, gn; qu (velar kept, palatalized or lost)pt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)OCTŌhuitopt
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptț [ts], z, ș [ʃ]DĪCEREdirezice
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)n kept (pâine, vin)PĀNEMpainpâine
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 Romanian went its own way.