Comparison of Italian and Spanish
Completely Different Vocabulary
I do not want to give the impression that all words are similar
in the two languages! Here are some examples of sentences where
the two languages become mutually incomprehensible:
- 'This boy works in the shop' becomes
Questo ragazzo lavora nel negozio in Italian
and Este muchacho trabaja en la tienda in Spanish.
- 'The street on the left' becomes
La strada a sinistra in Italian
and La calle a la izquierda in Spanish.
- 'We ate carrots and peas' becomes
Abbiamo mangiato carote e piselli in Italian
and Comimos zanahorias y guisantes in Spanish.
- 'Would you like to leave a message?' becomes
Vorrebbe (Lei) lasciare un messaggio? in Italian
and ¿Querría (usted) dejar un recado? in Spanish.
- 'I'm going to take a nap' becomes
Faccio un pisolino in Italian
and Me echo una siesta in Spanish.
- 'She was so frightened that she fainted' becomes
Era così spaventata che è svenuta in Italian
and Estaba tan asustada que se desmayó in Spanish.
Italian-speakers may find the following Spanish verbs difficult
to learn: quedar, quejar, quemar, querer
and quitar. (These are approximately equivalent to rimanere,
lamentare, bruciare, volere and togliere,
respectively.)
They may also find the following verbs difficult: llegar,
llenar, llevar, llover and llorar
(approximately equivalent to arrivare, riempire, portare,
piovere and piangere).
Finally, Italian has only three verbs meaning 'to become': diventare,
divenire, and the less common farsi. Spanish has several ways of
saying it, with slightly different meanings: convertirse en, hacerse,
llegar a ser, pasar a ser, ponerse, quedar(se),
volverse.
Last updated September 2022 by Adam N. Letchford.