You are an English speaker and you want to learn Spanish, don’t you?

First of all, congratulations!

Learning any language is a great decision.

Second of all, congratulations again!

Deciding to learn Spanish is an even greater decision.

Not that Spanish is one of the hardest languages to learn but learning it can’t happen overnight.

But, here’s one thing you will find helpful. 

What if we tell you that you are already Spanish, more than you think?

Here, we think about some general language features, especially with English.

Believe it or not, even though they belong to different language families, English and Spanish are quite similar.

Seeing the similarities between these two languages can help you realize that you don’t need that much time to learn Spanish and can give you the wind in the back to continue learning and achieve some advanced levels.

So, if you are ready to see how much Spanish you actually know, continue reading.

And now, if you are ready, let’s dive in.

Similarities Between Spanish And English

The alphabet

At the beginning of learning any language, the first lesson is always the alphabet. (or scripts if you are learning some of the fascinating oriental languages).

In some languages, the alphabet is the easiest thing to learn, while in others, beginners struggle with them quite a bit.

Luckily for you, you won’t spend too much time learning the Spanish alphabet.

Spanish and English use the same letters, which makes it very easy for English speakers to learn.

But, first of all, let’s mention that both languages use Latin letters.

Some sounds in Spanish don’t exist in English, but besides the famous Spanish ‘ ñ’ letter, all the letters in both alphabets are the same.

Taking aside English vowels which sound differently depending on other sounds in a word and diphthongs, learning to spell and pronounce Spanish words is right around the corner.

Capitalization

If we take a look at different languages, even the major ones, we will see that some of them capitalize words when your native language would never do that.

From this point of view, Spanish and English capitalize mainly the same words.

Here are some examples are both languages use capitalization:

• At the beginning of a sentence, the first letter of the first word is capitalized.
• Names of cities and countries or people’s names are always capitalized.
• In some cases names of the titles.

Punctuation

Just like capitalization, the punctuation rules differ depending on languages.

In Spanish and English, luckily, there are the same situations when punctuation is used.

• At the end of a sentence, a period is mandatory.
• In the sentence, especially the long one, commas are used mainly the same way in both languages, such as in situations when you number something.

This part is almost the same in both languages, so you won’t be having any trouble or headaches to learn because you already know it.

Vocabulary And Similar Words

Do you know what cognates are?

Those are the words that are spelled almost the same way in two different languages that have similar or nearly the same meaning.

It means that memorizing words like these actually isn’t a learning process because you are already familiar with them.

The explanation is in the adaptation of French words in English, which is, again, a relative language to Spanish.

Words that in English end with -tion, in Spanish almost always end in -ción, such as nation (English)- nación(Spanish), station(English)- estación(Spanish), publication (English)- publicación(Spanish), etc.

Sentence Structure

Except for the part wherein Spanish the adjective comes after the noun and in English before, sentence structure in both Spanish and English is almost the same.

Word order in Spanish is even easier. Word order in a sentence can be put in different ways, while in English if it’s said with different order, it will sound strange. Therefore, you don’t have to worry so much about the word order because people will, undoubtedly, understand you clearly.

Moreover, you can relax and enjoy while putting questions together. In Spanish, you don’t have to use do, does, or auxiliary verbs in questions like you have to in English so that the question is correct.

So, the sentence structure not only is similar to English but also easier because you don’t have to think about the things you use in English.

Plural Forms

Both languages have singular and plural forms. That, however, most of the languages have.

In Spanish and English cases there’s one interesting thing. In both languages, plural forms are formed by adding -s or -es to the end of nouns.

But, let’s not forget to mention the important thing in Spanish. When the adjectives are placed before nouns, adjectives have to get the plural form.

Here’s an example:

Singular: La rosa roja (Spanish)- The red rose (English)

Plural: Las rosas rojas (Spanish)- The red roses (English)

Accents And Dialects

If you thought that in both languages there are the same dialects, you’re asking too much.

Spanish spoken in Spain and in Mexico, or in other Spanish-speaking countries, differs in some sounds and letters, as well as words and expressions.

The same situation is with English accents and dialects, as the difference between British English and American English.

Final Thoughts

Now what do you think, how long does it take to learn Spanish?

Not in one day, for sure, but quite quickly.

These 7 main similarities between Spanish and English not only can help you to make a language learning plan but also give you a great start at the beginning of your language journey.

So, don’t waste any more minutes but book a lesson to start with your learning plan.

If you're interested in improving your Spanish skills, you should try some of these cool options:

Check out Babbel for fun, interactive lessons that fit into your day easily.

If you want something more in-depth, there's a great Spanish course on Coursera that covers everything from the basics to more advanced topics.

And if you prefer learning with a personal touch, Lingoda offers classes with native speakers that can really help you practice speaking.

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¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!)

How similar are Spanish and English?

In general, English and Spanish are not quite similar when it comes to grammar, but they have many cognates such as banana, camera, etc.

Is Spanish grammar similar to English?

Yes, Spanish grammar is similar to English grammar which makes it easier to connect between the two languages.

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