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"good night" in seven languages

Meaninggood night

Spanish

buenas noches

/ˈbwenas ˈnotʃes/

inherited

French

bonne nuit

/bɔn nɥi/

inherited

Only at bedtime; arriving at night, French says bonsoir.

Italian

buonanotte

/bwɔnaˈnɔtte/

inherited

Portuguese

boa noite

/ˈboɐ ˈnojtʃi/

inherited

Romanian

noapte bună

/ˈno̯apte ˈbunə/

inherited

Romanian -CT- → -pt-: NOCTEM → noapte.

Catalan

bona nit

/ˈbɔnə nit/

inherited

English

good night

/gʊd naɪt/

Indo-European kin · PIE *nókʷts (night ~ NOCTEM)

English → Italiangood nightbuonanotteDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: nocturnal, nocturne.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

BONAM NOCTEM‘good night’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

NOCTEM shows the CT law at a glance: Spanish ch, French -it (said ɥi), Italian tt. BONUS shows the open-o law: bueno, buono (French bon kept a plain vowel before the nasal).

English relatives: nocturnal, nocturne

Sound laws at work

CTStressed short O breaks into ue / uo / eu

Learn it

Practice the Greetings & courtesy deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • es¡Buenas noches, que descanses!
  • frBonne nuit, dors bien !
  • itBuonanotte, dormi bene!
  • ptBoa noite, dorme bem!
  • roNoapte bună, somn ușor!
  • caBona nit, que descansis!
  • enGood night, sleep well!

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