"I" in seven languages
MeaningI
Spanish
yo
/ʝo/
inherited
French
je
/ʒə/
inherited
Stressed form moi (from MĒ): Moi, je …
Italian
io
/ˈio/
inherited
Portuguese
eu
/ew/
inherited
Romanian
eu
/jew/
inherited
Catalan
jo
/ʒɔ/
inherited
English
I
/aɪ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *éǵh₂
English → ItalianIioDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: ego, egoist.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
EGO (Vulgar Latin *EO)‘I’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spoken Latin dropped the g of EGO, leaving *eo: Italian io stays close, Spanish yo and French je harden the first vowel into a consonant. Spanish and Italian usually drop it; French never can.
English relatives: ego, egoist
Learn it
In a sentence
- esYo soy Ana.
- frMoi, c'est Ana.
- itIo sono Ana.
- ptEu sou a Ana.
- roEu sunt Ana.
- caJo sóc l'Ana.
- enI'm Ana.