From Latin to Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese

Latin never died: it changed. Spoken Latin evolved over centuries into Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian. Comparing them shows the family resemblance.

The family tree

Spoken Vulgar Latin, the everyday speech of ordinary people rather than the literary Latin of authors like Cicero, gradually diverged in different regions as the Roman Empire broke up. The results are the Romance languages, named after Rōmānicus, "Roman".

Word comparison

Latin	Italian	Spanish	French	Portuguese	English
aqua	acqua	agua	eau	água	water
nox, noctis	notte	noche	nuit	noite	night
lupus	lupo	lobo	loup	lobo	wolf
lūna	luna	luna	lune	lua	moon
māter	madre	madre	mère	mãe	mother
pater	padre	padre	père	pai	father
fīlius	figlio	hijo	fils	filho	son
bonus	buono	bueno	bon	bom	good
caelum	cielo	cielo	ciel	céu	sky
annus	anno	año	an	ano	year

Patterns you can spot

• Latin -tās became -tà (Italian), -tad (Spanish), -té (French), -dade (Portuguese): cīvitās → città, ciudad, cité, cidade.
• Latin -tiō became -zione (Italian), -ción (Spanish), -tion (French): nātiō → nazione, nación, nation.
• Latin initial f- stays in Italian, French and Portuguese, but Spanish often changes it to h: fīlius → figlio, fils, filho, hijo (with a silent h).
• Latin c- before a stays hard in Italian and Spanish (caballus → cavallo, caballo) but changes to a sh sound in French (cheval).

Why this helps Latin learners

1. You already recognise words. If you know some Italian or Spanish, many Latin words will feel familiar.
2. You can guess meanings by comparing the languages.
3. You understand English better, since English took thousands of words from Latin, often through French.

Why this helps learners of Romance languages

Knowing Latin roots helps you learn vocabulary across all these languages at once.