Romanian for Italian speakers
You already know more Romanian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,360 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.
- share a source
- 60%
- inherited on both sides
- 14%
- to learn fresh
- 40%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Italian and Romanian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Italian word into its Romanian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open syllable); e (closed)ie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)PETRAMpietrapiatră
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euuo (open syllable); o (closed)o; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)NOVUMnuovonou
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept); â before n (câine)MAREmaremare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunalună
- AU becomes ooau (kept); ău unstressedAURUMoroaur
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n keptvowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)PĀNEMpanepâine
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)figliofiu
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenmostly kept (p t c)kept (p t c)VĪTAMvitavită
- C before E and Itʃ (c)tʃ (c)CAELUMcielocer
- French CA becomes chaca keptca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)CABALLUMcavallocal
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Igi, g [dʒ]j [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)IOCUMgiocojoc
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)VĪNUMvinovin
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (altro, caldo)l kept (alt, cald)ALTERUMaltroalt
- CTttptNOCTEMnottenoapte
- L + yodgli [ʎʎ]i [j] (the l lost)FOLIAMfogliafoaie
- C'L inside a wordcchi [kkj]chi, che [kʲ]OCULUMocchioochi
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordchi- pi- fi-CL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptCLĀVEMchiavecheie
- NN, GN and N + yodnn kept; GN, NI → gn [ɲɲ]NI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)ANNUMannoan
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept; takes lo, gli)s- (kept)STELLAMstellastea
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptCOSTAMcostacoastă
- Italian assimilates clustersassimilated: tt, ss, ss, nnpt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, psSEPTEMsetteșapte
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonantLUPUMlupolup
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (from the nominative)-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neutersLUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupilupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tà-tateCĪVITĀTEMcittàcetate
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-zione (learned); inherited -zzone or -gione-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)RATIŌNEMragionerațiune (learned)
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-aio, -aia (Tuscan); also -aro, -iere-ar, -are (căldare)CALDĀRIAMcaldaiacăldare
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptr (cer, fir, sare)FĪLUMfilofir
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptn kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)LĀNAMlanalână
- Romanian turns velars into labialstt, ss, gn; qu, gu (assimilated or kept)pt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)OCTŌottoopt
- 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 kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)n kept (pâine, vin)PĀNEMpanepâine
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 Romanian went its own way.