"to do, to make" in seven languages
Meaningto do, to make
Spanish
/aˈθeɾ/
inherited
French
/fɛʁ/
inherited
Italian
/ˈfare/
inherited
The full stem survives in faccio, facevo, fatto.
Portuguese
/faˈzeh/
inherited
Romanian
/ˈfatʃe/
inherited
Catalan
/fe/
inherited
English
/du/
Indo-European kin · PIE *dʰeh₁- 'to put, set'
The Latin ancestor
FACERE‘to make, do’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
One verb covers both 'do' and 'make' in all three. Spanish shows the classic F- → h- (silent); French faire wore FACERE down (its ai is what is left of the c), and Italian fare is a shortened spoken *FARE, though Italian still says faccio and fatto.
English relatives: fact, factory, manufacture, affect, feature
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Qué haces?
- frQu'est-ce que tu fais ?
- itCosa fai?
- ptO que você está fazendo?
- roCe faci?
- caQuè fas?
- enWhat are you doing?
The Latin family
FAC-, FACT-· do, make
FACERE is the busiest verb in Latin, and its participle FACTUM split cleanly in two: worn down in speech to hecho, fait, fatto, and borrowed back intact by scholars as fact, factual, faction. Spanish adds a twist of its own, turning Latin F- into a silent h- (Old Spanish fazer, fecho). Portuguese feito and Catalan fet vocalize the cluster as French does, while Romanian, true to the Eastern branch, turns -CT- into -pt-: fapt.
FACEREto do, make
eshacerfrfaireitfareptfazerrofacecafer
FACTUMdone; a deed
eshechofrfaititfattoptfeitorofaptcafetenfact
PERFECTUMcompleted, perfect
esperfectofrparfaititperfettoptperfeitoroperfectcaperfecteenperfect
FACTIŌNEMa making; a party, faction
frfaçonptfeiçãoenfashion
FACTIŌNEMa party, faction (learned)
esfacciónfrfactionitfazioneptfacçãorofacțiunecafaccióenfaction
FACTŪRAMa making, workmanship
esfacturafrfactureitfatturaptfaturarofacturăcafactura