Catalan vs French: 300 Words That Are Nearly Identical

Catalan vs French: 300 Words That Are Nearly Identical: the list

Tips

• Many infinitives follow a simple pattern: Catalan -ar often matches French -er, as in parlar/parler and pensar/penser, while -ir verbs such as dormir, sentir and venir are identical in both languages. Once you spot the pattern, you can often predict the Catalan form of a French verb you already know.
• Some words need zero conversion because they are spelled the same in both languages: venir, prendre, perdre, cas, sang and temps all cross over untouched. Treat these as nearly free vocabulary and spend your study time on the words that shift.
• Identical spelling doesn't mean identical sound: French leaves the final consonants of temps and sang silent, while Catalan pronunciation is quite different. Lean on audio, not just the written form, when a pair matches on paper.
• French sometimes doubles a consonant where Catalan keeps a single one, as in home/homme and acord/accord. When you meet a French word with a double letter, try trimming it to guess the Catalan equivalent, and the other way round.
• Watch the small vowel differences, such as Catalan nit versus French nuit and morir versus mourir. Noting these one-vowel swaps explicitly stops you from writing the French spelling when you mean the Catalan word.
• A few pairs share a meaning but not a grammatical number: Catalan gent is a singular collective noun for people, while French gens is plural. The vocabulary transfers cleanly, but check your verb agreement when you switch languages.

Frequently asked questions

Does knowing French mean I already know a lot of Catalan vocabulary?

You have a real head start on words like these, which were picked because the Catalan and French forms are identical or nearly identical, such as amic/ami and amor/amour. That said, plenty of Catalan vocabulary sits outside this overlap, so treat the list as a fast on-ramp rather than the whole language.

How does spaced repetition help with words that already look familiar?

Even near-identical pairs need reinforcement, because it is easy to mix up which spelling belongs to which language, as with viure/vivre or esdevenir/devenir. Vocab Voyage resurfaces each word as you're about to forget it, which helps lock in the Catalan spelling even when a French lookalike is competing for the same mental slot.

Do I need to already speak French to use this list?

No. The side-by-side format is useful either way: French speakers can lean on pairs like bon/bon and altre/autre to learn Catalan faster, while learners with no French can simply ignore that column. Vocab Voyage only ever asks you to type the Catalan answer to an English prompt.

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