Cognates can help you to learn Italian more easily. First of all, they are words similar in spelling and pronunciation both in English and Italian due to the common Latin root and same meaning. The Latin root is common to Romance languages such as Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian. This explains why people who know one of these languages can easily learn the others.
You should keep in mind that some words are false friends: they look similar but have different meaning.
One tip to identify cognates is to look at their endings:
Words ending in -ty, in italian end in -tà :
University Università
Maturity Maturità
Words ending in -ble, in Italian end in -bile:
Adorable Adorabile
Possible Possibile
Terrible Terribile
Words ending in -tion, in Italian end in -zione:
Attention Attenzione
Education Educazione
Words ending in -ly in Italian end in -mente:
Generally Generalmente
Rapidly Rapidamente
Totally Totalmente
Words ending in -ic in Italian end in -ico or -ica:
Fantastic Fantastico
Economic Economic
Scientific Scientifico
Music Musica
Words ending in -ism in Italian end in -ismo:
Pessimism Pessimismo
Romanticism Romanticismo
Realism Realismo
Words ending in -al in Italian end in -ale:
Animal Animale
Phenomenal Fenomenale
Original Originale
Words ending in -ous in Italian end in -ioso (masculine) and -iosa (feminine):
Ambitious Ambizioso
Curious Curioso
Words ending in -y in Italian end in -ia:
Psychology Psicologia
Anatomy Anatomia
Democracy Democrazia
Words ending in -ical end in -ico and -ica
Typical Tipico
Classical Classico
Words ending in -ect end in -etto:
Correct Corretto
Effect Effetto
Words ending in -ent end in -ente:
Ingredient Ingrediente
Fluent Fluente
Other words differ with the last letter:
Error Errore
Dollar Dollaro
Use the secret power of cognates to learn Italian more easily and memorize words with no effort.
We learn languages most effectively in chunks–meaningful words and phrases to communicate right away.
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