Romanian for Spanish speakers
You already know more Romanian than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,316 have a Spanish 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
- 58%
- inherited on both sides
- 12%
- to learn fresh
- 42%
2,264 words compared
Words you already know
Everyday words whose Spanish and Romanian forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Spanish word into its Romanian cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie (open and closed syllables)ie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)PETRAMpiedrapiatră
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euue (open and closed syllables)o; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)NOVUMnuevonou
- 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)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)PĀNEMpanpâine
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)h- (silent); f- kept before ue and rf- keptFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)hijofiu
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenb d gkept (p t c)VĪTAMvidavită
- C before E and Iθ (c, z); s where there is seseotʃ (c)CAELUMcielocer
- French CA becomes chaca keptca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)CABALLUMcaballocal
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij [x] before a back vowel; y-, h- or nothing before ej [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)IOCUMjuegojoc
- B and V merge in Spanishone sound: b, v = [b] (soft [β] between vowels)v kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)VĪNUMvinovin
- L before a consonant becomes ual → o (otro); ult → uch (mucho); often keptl kept (alt, cald)ALTERUMotroalt
- CTch [tʃ]ptNOCTEMnochenoapte
- L + yodj [x]i [j] (the l lost)FOLIAMhojafoaie
- C'L inside a wordj [x]chi, che [kʲ]OCULUMojoochi
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordll- (often)CL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptCLĀVEMllavecheie
- NN, GN and N + yodñ [ɲ]NI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)ANNUMañoan
- S + consonant at the start of a wordes-s- (kept)STELLAMestrellastea
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptCOSTAMcostacoastă
- Italian assimilates clusterssimplified: pt → t; mn → ñ; x → j [x] or spt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, psSEPTEMsieteșapte
- Final vowels-o, -a, -e kept; -e dropped after a single r, l, n, s, d, z-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-dad (-tad in some words after a consonant)-tateCĪVITĀTEMciudadcetate
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-ción (learned); inherited -zón-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)RATIŌNEMrazónrațiune (learned)
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ero, -era-ar, -are (căldare)CALDĀRIAMcalderacăldare
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianl keptr (cer, fir, sare)FĪLUMhilofir
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn keptn kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)LĀNAMlanalână
- Romanian turns velars into labialsch, j, ñ; cu, gu (velar kept or palatalized)pt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)OCTŌochoopt
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șt, d, s keptț [ts], z, ș [ʃ]DĪCEREdecirzice
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept (pan, vino)n kept (pâine, vin)PĀNEMpanpâine
False friends to watch
masă (Romanian) means “table; meal” · masa (Spanish) means “dough; mass”
Coincidence. Romanian masă 'table' is inherited from MĒNSAM, the source of Spanish mesa; Spanish masa is MASSAM 'lump'. Romanian has a second masă 'mass' (physics), borrowed from French masse.
Words to learn fresh
Common words where Romanian went its own way.