"our" in seven languages
Meaningour
Spanish
/ˈnwestɾo/
inherited
fem.: nuestra
French
/nɔtʁ/
inherited
The same for both genders; plural nos.
Italian
/ˈnɔstro/
inherited
fem.: nostra
With the article: la nostra casa.
Portuguese
/ˈnɔsu/
inherited
fem.: nossa
Romanian
/ˈnostru/
inherited
fem.: noastră
The o breaks into oa before the ă of the feminine.
Catalan
/ˈnɔstɾə/
inherited
fem.: nostra
With the article: la nostra casa.
English
/aʊɚ/
Indo-European kin · PIE *nes- / *nos- (we, us)
Our is related to us, which is the distant cousin of NŌS.
The Latin ancestor
NOSTRUM‘our’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The short o of NOSTRUM breaks into ue in Spanish nuestro, but stays a plain open o in Italian nostro, where the following st closes the syllable. French lost the s and keeps one form for both genders.
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esNuestra casa es pequeña.
- frNotre maison est petite.
- itLa nostra casa è piccola.
- ptNossa casa é pequena.
- roCasa noastră e mică.
- caLa nostra casa és petita.
- enOur house is small.