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Similarities Between English and Spanish

  • August 25, 2022
  • 5 min read
Similarities Between English and Spanish

English and Spanish are two different languages that originate from different parts of the world. English is derived from Old English, which was spoken in England before the 11th century. Spanish is derived from the Arabic language and was spoken in western Spain until the 15th century. Again, Spanish is the official language of Mexico, while English is one of the official languages of the United States.  However, both Spanish and English are spoken throughout the world. Over the years they have become intertwined, such that many Spanish words have an English equivalent. Spanish has a complex grammar that can be difficult for first-time students to learn compared to English. 

The Key Similarities Between English and Spanish

Letters and Character Sets

There are a lot of similarities between English and Spanish in terms of “ Letters and Character Sets.” Both languages use the same alphabet, but they use different characters to represent each letter. For example, in English, the letter “j” is represented by the letter “y” in Spanish. Likewise, the letter “e” is represented by the letter “i” in Spanish. This means that both languages have a number of similar characters. Spanish also has similar character sets to English, which means that words with similar spelling can be translated easily from one language to the other.

Parts of Speech

English and Spanish share many similarities in terms of “ Parts of Speech”. Both languages have articles, adjectives, pronouns, articles, and conjunctions. Spanish also has some additional parts of speech, including nouns and verbs. English has three verb tenses (present, past, future), while Spanish has four (present, preterite imperfect, present perfect, future perfect). There are also differences between the two languages in terms of pronunciation and word order. Nonetheless, despite these differences, both languages are considered to be members of the same language family.

Dialects and Accents

There are many similarities between English and Spanish in terms of “dialects and accents.” For example, both languages have similar rules for pronunciation. English speakers should try to pronounce words the way their Spanish counterparts do. Similarly, Spanish speakers should try to pronounce English words the way they would in Spain. However, there are also many subtle differences that can cause confusion. For example, in Spain, people say “duh” instead of “dough.”

Cognates

Many people might not realize how similar English and Spanish are when it comes to their “cognates.” Cognates are words that share a common origin but have different meanings in each language. For example, the word “programa” in Spanish means “plan,” while the word “program” in English means “attraction on television.” This similarity is likely due to the fact that Spanish and English share a common Latin ancestor.

Similar syntax

There are many similarities between English and Spanish syntax. For example, both languages use articles (a, an), pronouns (he, she, it), verbs conjugated in the third person (I went), and adjectives used as nouns (the big dog). In addition, there are many aspects of Spanish grammar that English speakers can still understand. For example, when a Spanish speaker says “ella se mueve,” most English speakers would understand “she moves.”

Pluralization

There are many similarities between English and Spanish in terms of “pluralization.” Both languages have two forms for plurals: the regular form and the irregular form. The regular form is used when you want to say one item, while the irregular form is used when you want to say more than one item. For example, you would use the regular form to say “We have some apples” while you would use the irregular form to say “We have many apples.”There are also similarities in terms of word order. Both languages place verbs at the beginning of a sentence, followed by subjects, and then objects. For example, in English we would say “The cat sat down” while in Spanish we would say “El gato se sentó.”

Contractions

There are many similarities between English and Spanish in terms of contractions. For example, in English we usually use “don’t” to mean “do not,” and “can’t” to mean “cannot.” Spanish also has many similar contractions. For example, “no hablo español” means “I don’t speak Spanish.”

Capitalization/punctuation

English and Spanish have many similarities when it comes to “capitalization/punctuation.” Both languages use the same capitalization rules—words that begin with a capital letter are always capitalized, while words that do not start with a capital letter are lowercased. There are also some punctuation rules that are shared between the two languages. For example, both English and Spanish use quotation marks for dialogue, and they use inverted commas to split two independent clauses.

Conclusion

Both English and Spanish are languages derived from Latin. They share many similarities, including the fact that both languages are spoken around the world. Both languages also share some common grammar rules. This is why it can be very difficult to learn a new language, but also why it’s so rewarding. If you’re interested in learning more about Spanish or English, be sure to check out our website!
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James Adams