Spanish for Romanian speakers
You already know more Spanish than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,316 have a Romanian 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 Romanian and Spanish forms come from the same source.
The sound laws between them
Regular changes that turn a Romanian word into its Spanish cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.
- Stressed short E breaks into ieie; ia before a or ă (piatră); fused with a preceding d, t (zece, țară)ie (open and closed syllables)PETRAMpiatrăpiedra
- Stressed short O breaks into ue / uo / euo; oa [o̯a] when a or e follows (poartă, moarte)ue (open and closed syllables)NOVUMnounuevo
- French stressed free A becomes ea (kept); â before n (câine)a (kept)MAREmaremar
- French fronts long U to [y]u [u] (kept)u [u] (kept)LŪNAMlunăluna
- AU becomes oau (kept); ău unstressedoAURUMauroro
- French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowelvowel + n kept; vowel raised before n (pâine, mână, timp)vowel + n keptPĀNEMpâinepan
- Spanish initial F- becomes h- (silent)f- kepth- (silent); f- kept before ue and rFĪLIUM (fr. from nom. FĪLIUS)fiuhijo
- Voiceless stops between vowels softenkept (p t c)b d gVĪTAMvităvida
- C before E and Itʃ (c)θ (c, z); s where there is seseoCAELUMcercielo
- French CA becomes chaca kept (câ-, că- in Romanian spelling)ca keptCABALLUMcalcaballo
- Initial I- (J-) and G before E, Ij [ʒ] (joc); g [dʒ] before e, i (ger)j [x] before a back vowel; y-, h- or nothing before eIOCUMjocjuego
- B and V merge in Spanishv kept; B and V between vowels often lost (cal)one sound: b, v = [b] (soft [β] between vowels)VĪNUMvinvino
- L before a consonant becomes ul kept (alt, cald)al → o (otro); ult → uch (mucho); often keptALTERUMaltotro
- CTptch [tʃ]NOCTEMnoaptenoche
- L + yodi [j] (the l lost)j [x]FOLIAMfoaiehoja
- C'L inside a wordchi, che [kʲ]j [x]OCULUMochiojo
- CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a wordCL- → che-, chi- [kʲ]; PL-, FL- keptll- (often)CLĀVEMcheiellave
- NN, GN and N + yodNI → i (vie); GN → mn (pumn); NN → n (an)ñ [ɲ]ANNUManaño
- S + consonant at the start of a words- (kept)es-STELLAMsteaestrella
- French loses S before a consonant (^)s kepts keptCOSTAMcoastăcosta
- Italian assimilates clusterspt and mn kept (șapte, somn); x → s, pssimplified: pt → t; mn → ñ; x → j [x] or sSEPTEMșaptesiete
- Final vowels-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonant-o, -a, -e kept; -e dropped after a single r, l, n, s, d, zLUPUMluplobo
- Plurals: -s or -i-i, -e (like Italian); -uri for many neuters-s, -es (from the accusative)LUPŌS (acc.) / LUPĪ (nom.)lupilobos
- -TĀTEM: -dad, -té, -tà-tate-dad (-tad in some words after a consonant)CĪVITĀTEMcetateciudad
- -TIŌNEM: learned -ción, inherited -zón-țiune (learned); inherited -ciune (tăciune)-ción (learned); inherited -zónRATIŌNEMrațiune (learned)razón
- -ĀRIUM: -ero, -ier, -aio-ar, -are (căldare)-ero, -eraCALDĀRIAMcăldarecaldera
- Single L between vowels: lost in Portuguese, r in Romanianr (cer, fir, sare)l keptFĪLUMfirhilo
- Portuguese loses single N between vowelsn kept; a before it raised to â (lână, mână)n keptLĀNAMlânălana
- Romanian turns velars into labialspt, ps, mn; p, b (labial)ch, j, ñ; cu, gu (velar kept or palatalized)OCTŌoptocho
- Romanian T, D, S before i become ț, z, șț [ts], z, ș [ʃ]t, d, s keptDĪCEREzicedecir
- Catalan drops -n at the end of a wordn kept (pâine, vin)n kept (pan, vino)PĀNEMpâinepan
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 Spanish went its own way.