Ciao a tutti! 

Spero che tutto sia bene! As you may know, Italian is a language derived from Latin, and English has a big portion of it’s vocabulary that is also derived from Latin (about 40%) so Italian and English share many cognates, as well as ‘false friends.’ Let’s discover some more about them below.

Italian Cognates 

A cognate is a word that has similar spelling and the same meaning between two different languages. I’m sure you can think of plenty in Italian already. They are always a welcome sight to any language learner as they help your comprehension, plus they’ll be easy to remember for future use. Italian cognates are therefore your friend!

Ecco qualche esempio:

• adorabile – adorable
• impossibile – impossible
• naturale – natural
• paradiso – paradise
• recente – recent
• problema – problem
• finale – final
• moderno – modern
• melodia – melody
• animale – animal
• banca – bank
• sistema – system

Ecc, ecc, ecc….! This list can really go on for forever. Look for cognates to help you understand the meaning of a sentence when you’re learning a second language, loro sono i vostri amici!

‘False Friends’

A false friend is a word in a foreign language that is spelled in a similar manner and yet has a completely different meaning. They make learning a foreign language a bit more challenging, and so they are clearly not your friends. Allora, state attenti!

Ecco qualche esempio:

• annoiare – to bore (not to annoy- irritare)
• confrontare – to compare (not to confront – affrontare)
• domandare – to ask (not to demand – esigere)
• pretendere – to expect (not to pretend – fingere)
• educato – polite (not educated – istruito)
• grosso – fat, huge (not gross – schifo)
• morbido – soft (not morbid – morboso)
• camera – room (not camera – fotocamera)
• libreria – bookstore (not library – biblioteca)
• baldo – bold (not bald – calvo)

Tocca a voi! Can you think of any other cognates or false friends in Italian? Do you have any stories of when you may have gotten confused with a false friend?