Sound laws · Law 23 · Endings

Final vowels

-UM, -AM, -EM (-M silent)

Spanish

-o, -a, -e kept; -e dropped after a single r, l, n, s, d, z

French

dropped; -A → mute -e

Italian

-o, -a, -e kept

Portuguese

-o, -a, -e kept (said [u], [ɐ], [i]); -e dropped after a single r, l, s, z, n

Romanian

-a → -ă, -e kept; -o (-U) dropped after a single consonant

Catalan

dropped except -a (said [ə]); -e kept after clusters

What happened

Final -M was already silent in spoken Latin, and final -U opened to -o in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Italian kept nearly every final vowel, so its words end in a vowel almost without exception. Spanish and Portuguese dropped -e after a single r, l, n, s, d or z in the Middle Ages (pan, mar; Portuguese mar, mês). French and Catalan lost every final vowel except A, which French weakened to a schwa written -e and now mostly silent and Catalan keeps as [ə]; both kept -e as a support after clusters (père, pare). Romanian kept -e, turned -a into -ă and lost -u (lup, an).

Examples

Latin	Italian	Spanish	French	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan	English relative
LUPUM‘wolf’	lupo	lobo	loup	lobo	lup	llop
AMĪCUM‘friend’	amico	amigo	ami	amigo	—	amic	amicable
LŪNAM‘moon’	luna	luna	lune	lua	lună	lluna	lunar
PATREM‘father’	padre	padre	père	pai	—	pare	paternal
PĀNEM‘bread’	pane	pan	pain	pão	pâine	pa
MARE‘sea’	mare	mar	mer	mar	mare	mar	marine
NOCTEM‘night’	notte	noche	nuit	noite	noapte	nit	nocturnal

Decoder

From French or Catalan, add back a vowel for Italian: usually -o (ami, amic → amico), -a for feminines (lune, lluna → luna) or -e (pain, pa → pane). Spanish and Portuguese add the same vowel, except that -e stays off after a single r, l, n, s, d, z (pan, mar). Romanian keeps -e and has -ă for -a (mare, lună).

Exceptions

Italian drops final -e in some set phrases and before another word (amor mio, signor Rossi, fiore → fior di latte). Spanish and Portuguese keep -e after consonant clusters and ch (padre, noche, noite). Romanian lost -u only after a single consonant: after a consonant + r or l it survives as -u (socru 'father-in-law', aspru 'rough').

Watch it happen: FOLIAM

What happened

Examples

Decoder

Exceptions

In your word bank