Rosetta Stone Language Software

(I) speak

As we've seen, in the Romance languages there are different forms of the verb for "I" and "you". And "we" and "he" and "they," though we haven't gotten into it. So far, we've only seen verbs with irregular forms. "To speak" is the first verb we'll learn that follows a consistent pattern - called a conjugation. What's more, "to speak" is from the most common pattern, or conjugation, so once you've learned about it, there will be tons of other verbs you can use. We'll talk about that with item 32, "(you) speak," when you've learned both forms that this course teaches.

Now, here's our verb for to speak. Think of going into a parlor to have a chat, then look at:

Italian (io) parlo (ee-oh par-lo) = "I speak."

French je parle (zhuh parl) = "I speak."

Spanish (yo) hablo (yo ah-blow) = "I speak."

What happened to the Spanish? I'm afraid it's a different verb. And there are no good cognates in English, that don't involve etymology. You'll have to learn this on your own, unless you're prepared for the whole story...

For the curious... Latin had several different words for "to speak." Loquere (like "loquacious") is the one the Latin textbooks teach. But the Romance languages latched on to two. These were:

1) parabolo, meaning "I tell a parable." The middle got chopped out, for Italian parlo and French parle.

2) fabulo, meaning "I tell a fable." Chop out the middle and you get "fablo". But for some obtuse reason (really, there are good reasons following sound change laws), where Latin words start with "f", Spanish often changes it to "h". So, there you have hablo.

For the really curious... there are a few other examples of Latin "f" changing to Spanish "h" that are worth mentioning. Note, also, that "li" often changes to "j". (Got a headache yet?) Lt. folia (leaf, like foliage) becomes Sp. hoja. Lt. filius (son, like filial) becomes Sp. hijo. Lt. facto (fact) becomes Sp. hecho (note that the "ct" changed to "ch," just like in nocte/noche and octo/ocho).