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"to realize (become aware)" in seven languages

Meaningto realize (become aware)

Spanish

darse cuenta

/ˈdaɾse ˈkwenta/

inherited

Darse cuenta de algo: 'to give oneself account of it'.

French

se rendre compte

/sə ʁɑ̃dʁ kɔ̃t/

inherited

Italian

rendersi conto

/ˈrɛndersi ˈkonto/

inherited

Portuguese

dar-se conta

/ˈdahsi ˈkõtɐ/

inherited

Perceber is just as common in Brazil.

Romanian

da seama

/da ˈse̯ama/

other source · seamă 'account' ← Hungarian szám 'number'

Used with a dative pronoun: îmi dau seama 'I realize'.

Catalan

adonar-se

/əduˈnaɾsə/

other source · donar 'to give' ← Latin DŌNĀRE

English

realize

/ˈɹiəlaɪz/

other source · French réaliser, from Medieval Latin REĀLIS

English → Italianto realize (become aware)rendersi contoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: account, count, compute.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • realizar (Spanish) means “to carry out, achieve” · realize (English) means “to become aware”

    Both built on Latin RĒĀLIS 'real': 'to make real'. English added 'to make real in the mind' (to grasp); Spanish kept 'to make happen'. French réaliser has taken on the English sense in speech.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

COMPUTĀRE‘to reckon (whence cuenta, compte, conto 'account')’

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

The story

All three sisters 'give themselves an account' of something. Their look-alikes realizar, réaliser, realizzare mostly mean 'to carry out, make real' — un film réalisé par… is a film directed by…

English relatives: account, count, compute

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esNo me di cuenta de que era tan tarde.
  • frJe ne me suis pas rendu compte qu'il était si tard.
  • itNon mi sono reso conto che fosse così tardi.
  • ptNão me dei conta de que era tão tarde.
  • roNu mi-am dat seama că era atât de târziu.
  • caNo em vaig adonar que era tan tard.
  • enI didn't realize it was so late.

More words from the same Latin

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words