Romanian for Portuguese speakers
You already know more Romanian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,278 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 → Romanian and opens the cognates.
- share a source
- 56%
- inherited on both sides
- 11%
- to learn fresh
- 44%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Portuguese and Romanian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Portuguese word into its Romanian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into iee [ɛ] (no diphthong)ie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)PETRAMpedrapiatră
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo [ɔ] (no diphthong)o; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)NOVUMnovonou
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept)a (kept); â before n (câine)MAREmarmare
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlualună
- AU becomes oou (said [o] in Brazil)au (kept); ău unstressedAURUMouroaur
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelnasal vowel or diphthong too (pão, bom, fim)vowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)PĀNEMpãopâine
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- keptf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)filhofiu
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb (v) d gkept (p t c)VĪTAMvidavită
- C before E and Is (c, ç); z [z] between vowelstʃ (c)CAELUMcéucer
- French CA becomes chaca keptca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)CABALLUMcavalocal
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij, g [ʒ]j [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)IOCUMjogojoc
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B between vowels → vv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)VĪNUMvinhovin
- L before a consonant becomes ual → ou, oi in some words (outro, foice); written l elsewhere, said [w] in Brazill kept (alt, cald)ALTERUMoutroalt
- CTit (i + t)ptNOCTEMnoitenoapte
- L + yodlh [ʎ]i [j] (the l lost)FOLIAMfolhafoaie
- C'L inside a wordlh [ʎ]chi, che [kʲ]OCULUMolhoochi
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordch- [ʃ]CL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptCLĀVEMchavecheie
- NN, GN and N + yodnh [ɲ]; NN → nNI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)ANNUManoan
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-s- (kept)STELLAMestrelastea
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptCOSTAMcostacoastă
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t, mn → n; x → ss or ix [jʃ]pt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, psSEPTEMseteșapte
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, n-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonantLUPUMlobolup
- Plurals: -s or -i-s, -es (from the accusative)-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neutersLUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)loboslupi
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-dade (-tade after a consonant)-tateCĪVITĀTEMcidadecetate
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ção (learned and inherited alike: nação, razão)-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)RATIŌNEMrazãorațiune (learned)
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-eiro, -eira-ar, -are (căldare)CALDĀRIAMcaldeiracăldare
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianlost (céu, fio, cor)r (cer, fir, sare)FĪLUMfiofir
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelslost, nasalizing the vowel (lã, mão); later often oral (lua, boa) or nh (vinho)n kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)LĀNAMlãlână
- Romanian turns velars into labialsit, x [ʃ], nh; qu, gupt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)OCTŌoitoopt
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șkept; t, d said [tʃ], [dʒ] before i in Brazil (dia)ț [ts], z, ș [ʃ]DĪCEREdizerzice
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordnasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)n kept (pâine, vin)PĀNEMpãopâine
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.