125 Italian Cognates and Their Patterns

Cognates—words that have similar (or, in some cases, the same) spellings and pronunciations between two languages—are probably the easiest words to learn when studying a new language.

Cognates can give your Italian vocabulary a serious boost—as long as you don’t fall for “false friends.”

Let’s go over the differences between cognates, false friends and false cognates. We’ll also introduce 125 cognates between Italian and English and the patterns they follow.

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What Is a Cognate?

A cognate refers to two words from different languages that derive from the same original word. If you go back far enough, they have the same linguistic root. English and Italian have both been significantly influenced by Latin, which explains why there are many cognates between them.

Cognates are usually easy to recognize, learn and remember. They’re generally pronounced the same or similarly in both languages and their spellings tend to be similar as well. Most importantly, they have the same basic definition.

But of course, it can’t be that easy! Before you get too comfortable with cognates, you’ll need to learn about false friends and false cognates.

What Is a False Friend?

False friends are words that seem like cognates, and may even have the same root word, but actually have different definitions.

It’s easy to get confused when an Italian word that sounds similar in English has a completely different meaning. For instance, you might accidentally ask for a hotel room ( camera ) instead of a camera ( macchina fotografica )!

For this reason, you need to be mindful when learning cognates. Don’t assume that because a word sounds the same it has the same definition in both English and Italian. Check out our list of false friends between Italian and English to avoid using the wrong word.

What Is a False Cognate?

False cognates are different from false friends but can also cause plenty of confusion. False cognates are two words that may sound and look similar, and they may even have the same definition, but they come from different roots.

These words might be coincidentally similar or they may be a case of convergent evolution (words that came to be for similar reasons but are entirely unrelated) but they aren’t considered real cognates!

Cognates are useful when learning Italian as long as you know to be wary of false friends and false cognates. Otherwise, someone might tell you that they’re hungry ( fame ), but you might think instead that they’re famous.

Now that you know the difference between false friends, false cognates and cognates, let’s look at some examples.

Different Endings of Italian Cognates

One easy way to tell a cognate is by looking at word endings. Many English words that end in a particular way have Italian cognates that also end in a particular (slightly different) way. 

Below are some examples of English/Italian cognates and the patterns they follow. Just remember that these are not hard and fast rules, but rather general things to look for. 

-ty in English | –tà in Italian

There are many English nouns that end in -ty. And many of their equivalents in Italian are cognates ending in -tá.

English	Italian
ability	abilità
authenticity	autenticità
brevity	brevità
city	città
community	comunità
diversity	diversità
durability	durabilità
felicity	felicità
generosity	generosità
maturity	maturità
publicity	pubblicità
quality	qualità
university	università

-ble in English | -bile in Italian

By remembering this pattern and reviewing the English/Italian cognates that follow it, you can easily learn a lot of Italian adjectives that will come in handy in your daily speech. 

English	Italian
memorable	memorabile
adorable	adorabile
acceptable	accettabile
credible	credibile
excitable	eccitabile
fllexible	flessibile
impossible	impossibile
possible	possibile
responsible	responsabile
visible	visibile

-tion in English | -zione in Italian 

Here’s another category of nouns that have many English/Italian cognates, making your studying much simpler. 

English	Italian
situation	situazione
attention	attenzione
celebration	celebrazione
communication	comunicazione
education	educazione
information	informazione
liberation	liberazione
organization	organizzazione
population	popolazione
reaction	reazione

-ly in English | -mente in Italian 

Most adverbs in English end in -ly, and most adverbs in Italian end in -mente. With these convenient cognates, you can learn almost all adverbs without even studying them!

English	Italian
briefly	brevemente
constantly	costantemente
directly	direttamente
generally	generalmente
naturally	naturalmente
originally	originariamente
probably	probabilmente
rapidly	rapidamente
simply	semplicemente
totally	totalmente

-ic in English | -ico in Italian

These adjectives (and a few nouns) look very similar, just add an “o” to create the Italian version (or an “a” for the feminine version of the adjectives). 

English	Italian
automatic	automatico
classic	classico
comic	comico
dramatic	drammatico
economic	economico
electric	elettronico
fantastic	fantastico
ironic	ironico
pacific	pacifico
public	pubblico
traffic	traffico

-ism in English | -ismo in Italian

Using these advanced words will impress native Italian speakers…unless they also speak English and realize how similar they are! 

English	Italian
activism	attivismo
bilingualism	bilinguismo
heroism	eroismo
mechanism	mechanismo
multiculturalism	multiculturalismo
narcissism	narcisismo
optimism	ottimismo
organism	organismo
romanticism	romanticismo
vandalism	vandalismo

-al in English | -ale in Italian

This pattern will help you pick up even more Italian adjectives to speak and write descriptively. 

English	Italian
continental	continentale
editorial	editoriale
general	generale
hospital	ospedale
natural	naturale
original	originale
personal	personale
social	sociale
special	speciale
tradicional	tradizionale
universal	universale

Vowel added to English word

Many Italian cognates are the same word as in English, just with a vowel added on the end. Here are some examples: 

English	Italian
acrobat	acrobata
altar	altare
animal	animale
artist	artista
color	colore
concert	concerto
error	errore
evident	evidente
dollar	dollaro
important	importante
letter	lettera
modern	moderno
music	musica
poet	poeta
problem	problema
system	sistema
stupid	stupido
television	televisione
tourist	turista

Cognates with different final vowels

Many English/Italian cognates are the same word except for the final vowel. Check out these common ones: 

English	Italian
culture	cultura
cure	cura
future	futuro
minute	minuto
native	nativo
paradise	paradiso
positive	positivo
sense	senso
temperature	temperatura
universe	universo

True English/Italian cognates

Cognates can be the exact same word in both languages. These are known as “true cognates” or “perfect cognates.” They’re words that have a common origin and have remained largely unchanged in both languages over time. 

English	Italian
banana	banana
bar	bar
computer	computer
cinema	cinema
hotel	hotel
internet	internet
pasta	pasta
pizza	pizza
radio	radio
sport	sport
taxi	taxi

Other English/Italian cognates

Here are a few more cognates that don’t fit exactly with any of the patterns we’ve shared in the post, but are still useful to learn: 

English	Italian
copy	copia
delicious	delizioso
energy	energia
family	famiglia
identical	identico
interessante	interesting
perfect	perfetto
respect	rispetto
restaurant	ristorante
symptom	sintoma
vegetable	vegetale

How to Learn Italian Cognates 

Cognates are a quick and easy way to expand your Italian vocabulary. After all, Italian cognates are almost the same as words that you already know in English!

When you’re listening to Italian, keep an eye out and you’ll probably notice more cognates. You can look for videos on YouTube that talk specifically about cognates, like this one:

To see cognates actually in use, you can also look for resources that focus on authentic Italian, like these podcasts or the FluentU program.

 

Now that you have a long list of Italian cognates, try using them in conversation and writing. 

As long as you keep a mindful eye for false cognates and false friends, you can build your Italian knowledge in a snap!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)