Skip to content

"true" in seven languages

Meaningtrue

Spanish

verdadero

/beɾdaˈdeɾo/

other source · Spanish verdad 'truth' (← VĒRITĀTEM) + -ero

Plain vero survives only in learned derivatives (verídico).

French

vrai

/vʁɛ/

other source · spoken Latin *VĒRĀCUM, from VĒRAX 'truthful'

Italian

vero

/ˈvero/

inherited

Portuguese

verdadeiro

/vehdaˈdejɾu/

other source · Portuguese verdade 'truth' (← VĒRITĀTEM) + -eiro

'That's true' is usually é verdade.

Romanian

adevărat

/adevəˈrat/

other source · Romanian adevăr 'truth' (built on Latin VĒRUM) + -at

Catalan

cert

/sɛrt/

other source · Latin CERTUM 'sure, settled'

English

true

/tɹu/

native English · Old English trēowe

English → ItaliantrueveroNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: very (via French verai), verify, verdict, veracity.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

VĒRUM‘true’

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

The story

Only Italian kept plain VĒRUS. French vrai comes from VĒRAX 'truthful' and gave English very ('truly'); Spanish built 'true' from verdad 'truth'.

English relatives: very (via French verai), verify, verdict, veracity

Learn it

Practice the Describing words deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • es¡Eso no es verdad!
  • frCe n'est pas vrai !
  • itNon è vero!
  • ptIsso não é verdade!
  • roNu e adevărat!
  • caAixò no és cert!
  • enThat's not true!

More in Describing words

All Describing words words