Spanish for Italian speakers

You already know more Spanish than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,709 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 → Spanish and opens the cognates.

share a source: 75%
inherited on both sides: 27%
to learn fresh: 25%

2,264 words compared

Words you already know

Everyday words whose Italian and Spanish forms come from the same source.

The sound laws between them

Regular changes that turn a Italian word into its Spanish cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.

False friends to watch

burro (Italian) means “butter” · burro (Spanish) means “donkey”
Coincidence. Italian burro (probably via Old French burre) goes back to Latin BŪTȲRUM, from Greek boútyron; Spanish burro is a back-formation from borrico, from Late Latin BURRĪCUS 'small horse'.
largo (Spanish) means “long” · largo (Italian) means “wide”
Both from Latin LARGUM 'abundant, generous'. Italian (with French large) turned 'ample' into 'wide'; Spanish into 'long', leaving 'wide' to ancho (AMPLUM).
salir (Spanish) means “to go out” · salire (Italian) means “to go up, climb”
Both from Latin SALĪRE 'to jump, leap'. Italian leapt up, Spanish leapt out.
guardare (Italian) means “to look at, watch” · guardar (Spanish) means “to keep, put away”
Both from Germanic *wardōn 'to watch over' (English ward, guard). Italian kept the watching; Spanish, like French garder, the keeping.
contestar (Spanish) means “to answer” · contestare (Italian) means “to dispute, challenge”
Both from Latin CONTESTĀRĪ 'to call witnesses'. Italian (and French contester) kept the courtroom challenge; in Spanish it became the everyday 'answer', with the 'dispute' sense surviving only in formal use.
caldo (Italian) means “hot; heat” · caldo (Spanish) means “broth”
Both from Latin CALIDUM 'hot'. Spanish caldo is 'the hot (liquid)'; Spanish 'hot' is caliente, from CALENTEM.
topo (Italian) means “mouse” · topo (Spanish) means “mole”
Italian topo goes back to Latin TALPA 'mole', shifted to the mouse (Italian 'mole' is the learned-looking talpa). Spanish topo is of disputed origin — perhaps the same TALPA, perhaps an expressive word.
subire (Italian) means “to undergo, suffer” · subir (Spanish) means “to go up”
Both from Latin SUBĪRE 'to go under; to come up'. Spanish kept 'coming up'; Italian 'going under' a burden.
imbarazzata (Italian) means “embarrassed (fem.)” · embarazada (Spanish) means “pregnant”
Same Ibero-Romance embarazar 'to hinder'. Italian imbarazzare kept 'to hinder, make awkward'; Spanish specialized the 'encumbered' woman.
nudo (Spanish) means “knot” · nudo (Italian) means “naked”
Two different Latin words that fell together: Spanish nudo is NŌDUM 'knot', Italian nudo is NŪDUM 'naked'. Each language has the other one too: Spanish desnudo, Italian nodo.
vaso (Spanish) means “drinking glass” · vaso (Italian) means “pot, vase, jar”
Both from Latin VĀS 'vessel' (also VĀSUM). Spanish drank from it; Italian keeps flowers and jam in it.
pronto (Italian) means “ready; 'hello?' on the phone” · pronto (Spanish) means “soon, early”
Both from Latin PROMPTUM 'brought out, at hand'. Italian kept 'ready'; Spanish moved to 'soon' (though some Latin American Spanish, as in Uruguay, uses pronto for 'ready').
carta (Spanish) means “letter (mail); menu” · carta (Italian) means “paper; card”
Both from Latin CHARTAM 'sheet of papyrus'. Italian kept the material; Spanish the thing written on it. French carte is 'card, map, menu'.
oficina (Spanish) means “office” · officina (Italian) means “workshop, garage”
Both from Latin OFFICĪNAM 'workshop'. Italian kept the workshop; Spanish moved the work indoors to the desk.
negocio (Spanish) means “business, deal” · negozio (Italian) means “shop”
Both from Latin NEGŌTIUM 'business' (literally 'not-leisure'). Italian narrowed it to the place where business is done.
bodega (Spanish) means “wine cellar; winery” · bottega (Italian) means “shop, workshop”
Both from Latin APOTHĒCAM (Greek apothḗkē 'storehouse'). Spanish stores wine in it; Italian sells and makes things there. French boutique is a third cognate (via Occitan).
ropa (Spanish) means “clothes” · roba (Italian) means “stuff, things”
Same Germanic *rauba 'spoils'. Italian roba kept the general 'goods, stuff' (roba da mangiare 'things to eat'); Spanish narrowed it to clothing.
camino (Italian) means “fireplace, chimney” · camino (Spanish) means “road, path”
Coincidence. Italian camino is Latin CAMĪNUS 'furnace' (from Greek); Spanish camino is Late Latin CAMMĪNUS, a Celtic word — the source of Italian cammino 'journey', with a double m.
gamba (Italian) means “leg” · gamba (Spanish) means “prawn”
Coincidence. Italian gamba is Late Latin GAMBA 'hock (of a horse)'; Spanish gamba came from Catalan, ultimately from Latin CAMMARUS 'crayfish' — the true cognate of Italian gambero.
loro (Italian) means “they; their” · loro (Spanish) means “parrot”
Coincidence. Italian loro is Latin ILLŌRUM 'of those'; Spanish loro comes from a Carib word for the bird.
suceso (Spanish) means “event, incident” · successo (Italian) means “success”
Both from Latin SUCCESSUM 'a coming after, outcome'. Italian (with French succès) kept the good outcome; Spanish kept any outcome — often a grim one in the news.
éxito (Spanish) means “success” · esito (Italian) means “outcome, result”
Both from Latin EXITUS 'a way out, outcome'. Italian esito is neutral; Spanish éxito is only the good result. The two languages swapped words with successo / suceso.
primo (Spanish) means “cousin” · primo (Italian) means “first”
Both from Latin PRĪMUM 'first'. Spanish primo is short for primo hermano, from CONSOBRĪNUS PRĪMUS 'first cousin'.
pelo (Spanish) means “hair (on the head)” · pelo (Italian) means “body hair, fur”
Both from Latin PILUM 'a single hair'. Spanish uses it for the hair on your head; Italian for body hair and fur, keeping capelli (CAPILLUS) for the head.
tienda (Spanish) means “shop; tent” · tenda (Italian) means “curtain; tent”
Both from spoken Latin *TENDITA 'something stretched out'. Spanish market stalls turned the tent into a shop; Italian stretched it across a window.
acostarse (Spanish) means “to go to bed, lie down” · accostarsi (Italian) means “to approach, draw alongside”
Both built on Latin COSTA 'rib, side'. Spanish lies down on its side; Italian comes up alongside, as a boat to a quay (compare French accoster).
cara (Spanish) means “face” · cara (Italian) means “dear (fem.)”
Coincidence. Spanish cara comes from Greek kárā 'head' via Late Latin; Italian cara is Latin CĀRAM 'dear'. (Spanish has the same adjective: caro, cara 'expensive, dear'.)
cattivo (Italian) means “bad, naughty” · cautivo (Spanish) means “captive”
Both from Latin CAPTĪVUM 'captive'. Christian Latin spoke of the soul captive of the devil (captīvus diabolī), and Italian cattivo slid from 'captive' to 'wicked'. French chétif 'puny' is a third outcome.

Words to learn fresh

Common words where Spanish went its own way.