Spanish and French similar?
are Spanish and French similar like people say?
9 Answers
I am currently taking French lessons with a native from France who happens to attend my church with his wife and son. I studied French at school and at college. I am also seeking to improve my Spanish. (Romance family of languages: Spanish, French, Italian. Portuguese, and Romanian)
Yes, it's true that Spanish and French share some similarities since they are both based on Latin. I will give you a few examples to illustrate this.
When two verbs immediately follow each other in Spanish and French the second one is generally (usually) conjugated to the infinitive: In the first French example below, two infinitives are used: aller and faire
ex 1
Esp: Voy a ir de compras esta tarde.
Fr: Je vais aller faire les magasins cet après-midi.
Eng: I am going to go shopping this afternoon.
ex 2:
Esp: a) Me gustaría aprender español
Fr b) Je voudrais apprendre français
Eng: = I would like to learn (a) Spanish/(b) French
There are several ways to say the same thing in many languages and it is not my purpose to illustrate the various possibilities here, but simply to show some of the similarities between the two!
The French use the imperfect indicative, like the Spanish, to set the scene when narrating what takes place/what has already taken place.
Ex: Sp: Estaba leyendo cuando entré
Fr: Il lisait quand je suis entré
Eng: He was reading when I came in.
Besides these examples there are many more similarities such as individual words spelt alike whch mean the same but be careful of the pronounciation:
eg el avión (Sp) enter link description here
l'avion (Fr)
Eng: aeroplane
Or, in Spanish, the word ¿qué meaning what? as in ¿Qué hora es? = What time is it?
but in French, the word que also meaning what, as in Que fait il? = What is he doing?
The differences are most marked (obvious) in pronounciation and accent: Spanish is a much more phonetical language than French, where,...with few exceptions, most letters are pronounced exactly as they are written, whereas French is a much less phonetical language and, like Barzilian Portuguese, has nasal sounds.
I hope this helps 
Yes they are. I learned some French before I started studying Spanish. Sometimes it helped because some words are similar and sometimes it didn't because they are so similiar I confuse one for the other. 
FRENCH -- SPANISH -- ENGLISH
allergique à la pénicilline -- allérgico a la penicilina -- allergic to penicillin
allergique aux antibiotiques -- allérgico a los antibióticos -- allergic to antibiotics
allergique au gluten -- allérgico a gluten -- allergic to gluten
audio guide -- audioguía -- audio guide
bouteille de vin -- botella de vino -- bottle of wine
classe économique -- clase económica -- economy class
crème antiseptique -- crema antiséptica -- antiseptic cream
infection vaginale -- infección vaginal -- vaginal infection
jardin botanique -- jardín botánico -- botanical garden
lentille de contact -- lente de contacto -- contact lens
mon numéro -- mi número -- my number
musique classique -- música clásica -- classical music
musique folklorique -- música folk -- folk music
musique pop -- música pop -- pop music
numéro de fax -- número de fax -- fax number
première classe -- primera clase
recevoir un fax -- recibir un fax -- receive a fax
Portuguese is even closer to Spanish, they are different languages though. See an example:
ES: Voy a salir de compras. PT: Vou sair às compras.
Portuguese has all the sounds used in Spanish in addition to nasal vowels that are used in French. Portuguese and French (especially the Portuguese spoken in some parts of Brazil) share many common sounds. See an example:
FR: En avant! PT: Avante! ES: Adelante!
The words 'avant' and 'avante' have almost the same pronunciation and have in common the nasal vowel /ã/. Portuguese has been influenced by French much more than Spanish, which has been more independent. The R sounds of the Portuguese spoken in some parts of Brazil and Lisbon is almost the same R's used in French, which are voiced uvular fricative [?].
I invite you to start learning Portuguese, it'll be fun and you're definetely gonna get an edge in your professional life.
Writings are very similar. The big difference is in the pronunciation, spelling and gramatically. In the French excessively abusing accents and signs and do it all more complicated, Spanish has a simple and practical spelling. In Spanish there are not as many consonants between syllables as in other languages ??and that can be an advantage if they knew exploit.
To some extent. Both derive from Latin, and I have heard people say that the grammar and wording are quite similar.
I believe that in the same way English sounds similar to Spanish, Spanish sounds similar to French.
Hope that answers your question!
Don't forget Italian. Many words are very similar to Spanish.
I learned French before starting to learn Spanish. Dormir to sleep is the same in both languages but butter - buerre - mantequilla is completely different. I remember a sketch on the British comedy Fawlty Towers, that showed it to comedic effect. Spanish is easier to pronounce. Both are romance languages. I was warned not to learn Italian at the same time as they are very similar. I did study Latin at school which helps you guess meanings. I think if you learn a language the next one is easier.
Yesterday - ayer-hier
Breakfast-desayuno- (petit) déjeuner
bread-pan--pain
Beware the pronunciation of the letter ' r'.
El '' erre''.. Ten cuidado.
Apart from the grammar and everything else, there is hardly any difference at all.. Jejeje.
Bonne courage.
