Spanish vs. Italian: How Similar Are the Two Languages?

Mediterranean languages are melodious and romantic, with a rich history. When learning a new language, these characteristics can be a great motivator for choosing which one to learn. However, you may not have enough time to pursue fluency in Greek or Arabic, which is unquestionably more difficult for native English speakers. Spanish and Italian are two options that will both lead to faster results—and possibly less frustration.

When deciding between the two languages, though, a common question that arises is, “Should I learn Spanish or Italian?” In short, these two languages have a lot in common, but they are also very different. If you’re wondering how similar these two languages are and which one you should learn, this guide has everything you need to make your decision. We will go over the most important differences and similarities to help you understand the uniqueness of each language.

Keep reading to find out how different Italian is from Spanish!

In reality, how similar are Spanish and Italian?

Spanish and Italian are indeed two very similar languages. The reason for this is that both languages derive from Latin and fall into the category of Romance languages. Because of the similarities across all these languages, it is commonly thought that they are mutually intelligible—that means Spanish speakers would completely understand Italian speakers or Romanian speakers, and so on.

Though that is a common misconception, as we will discuss below, there is some truth to it. Italian and Spanish share many similarities, particularly in vocabulary. According to Ethnologue, a renowned linguistic encyclopedic reference work, the two languages share a similarity coefficient of 0.82 in terms of lexicon. That is, in terms of how similar Spanish and Italian are, the languages are 82% mutually incomprehensible.

A similarity coefficient of 0.82 indicates that speakers of Italian or Spanish can understand approximately 4 out of 5 words in the other language. That remarkable similarity is what leads most people to believe that Italian and Spanish aren’t so different after all. Of course, there are many similarities between the languages, as well as some differences. We will go over each of them in the sections that follow.

One of the best ways to have an overview of similarities and differences between Italian and Spanish is to see for yourself. “How can I do it?” you may ask. On LiveXP, you can choose language tutors from all around the world for 1-on-1 online lessons. Within one subscription, you can learn both languages (Italian and Spanish) and compare them. Learning two languages from the same language branch can help significantly. If you feel that Italian or Spanish is easier for you to learn, you can focus on one language or continue learning both.

Similarities between Italian and Spanish

As previously discussed, the majority of the similarities between the languages stem from their Latin origins. So, is Italian like Spanish? The answer is yes, in many different ways.

Noun cognates

In linguistics, a cognate is a word that derives from the same word as another. Two cognate words can be completely the same or very similar to each other. Being descendants of Latin, Spanish and Italian share a high amount of cognate words.

Some examples of shared nouns between the two languages are:

la música (Sp.) // la musica (It.) = music

el lago (Sp.) // il lago (It.) = lake

el muro (Sp.) // il muro (It.) = wall

el teléfono (Sp.) // il telephono (It.) = telephone

la pera (Sp.) // la pera (It.) = pear

la casa (Sp.) // la casa (It.) = house

el arte (Sp.) // l’arte (It.) = art

la biblioteca (Sp.) // la biblioteca (It.) = library

la mano (Sp.) // la mano (It.) = hand

el canto (Sp.) // il canto (It.) = song/singing

Of course, there is a much longer and more impressive list of cognates with minor differences that remain mutually intelligible between the two languages. Examples of noun cognates with minor spelling differences include:

el agua (Sp.) // l’acqua (It.) = water

el amigo (Sp.) // l’amico (It.) = friend

el café (Sp.) // il caffè (It.) = coffee

la canción (Sp.) // la canzone (It.) = song

la luz (Sp.) // la luce (It.) = light

la familia (Sp.) // la famiglia (It.) = family

la palabra (Sp.) // la parola (It.) = word

el supermercado (Sp.) // il supermercato (It.) = supermarket

el tiempo (Sp.) // il tempo (It.) = time

la tierra (Sp.) // la terra (It.) = earth

Conjugation and verb cognates

Spanish and Italian have similar conjugation systems and verb cognates. Both languages have a more complicated conjugation system than English, with different suffixes for each person and number, as well as significant changes across tenses.

Furthermore, both Spanish and Italian have a large number of modes and verb tenses; to be specific, Italian has 21 tenses, and Spanish has 23, whereas English only has 12. The intricate grammar of Spanish and Italian can be intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's easier than it appears—and that goes for both languages!

Of course, the two languages share cognates in their verbal systems as well. Some examples are:

estar (Sp.) // stare (It.) = to be

ver (Sp.) // Vedere (It.) = to see

caminar (Sp.) // camminare (It.) = to walk

ayudar (Sp.) // aiutare (It.) = to help

escribir (Sp.) // scrivere (It.) = to write

volar (Sp.) // volare (It.) = to fly

Italian words of Spanish origin and Spanish words of Italian origin

Due to their shared ancestry, Italian and Spanish not only share cognates but also borrow words from one another. This is understandable, given the centuries of contact between the two languages. Some Italian words of Spanish origin are:

cigarro > sigaro = cigar

espinaca > spinace = spinach

huracán > uragano = hurricane

The list of Spanish words derived from Italian is quite extensive. A few examples of Spanish words of Italian origin are:

acuarela > acquerello = watercolor

brillare > brillar = to shine

disegno > diseño = design

opera > ópera = opera

The vocabulary similarities between the two languages are obvious. However, as we will see later, there are also some “false friends” (words that are alike but have totally different meanings) that can be confusing.

Syntax: SVO order and null subject

Spanish and Italian are also alike in terms of syntax and sentence structure. As most Indo-European languages today, Italian and Spanish follow the SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) order.

Another interesting feature that both languages share is that they are null-subject languages. That is, as long as the verb is properly conjugated and the context allows it, the subject can be omitted. This is also known as “pro-drop” in linguistic terms and is found in many languages around the world, but it does not exist in English.

For instance, you can say:

Hablaron de música (Sp.) = (They) talked about music

Parlavano di musica (It.) = (They) talked about music

In both languages, there is no need to repeat the pronoun “they” because the suffixes indicate that the verb refers to the third plural and refers to people in general or people we already know about from a previous sentence. However, in English, personal pronouns are always used because verb conjugation does not allow us to understand who the verb is referring to unless the subject is explicitly stated.

Similar phonology

Are Italian and Spanish similar in terms of pronunciation? That is a question commonly asked when deciding which language to learn. It’s true that Mediterranean languages can sound similar to someone not familiar with them—as a Greek, I have received my fair share of “Oh, are you Spanish?”—but, in reality, pronunciation differs greatly.

What makes them sound similar, though, is that Spanish and Italian have a similar vowel system. Both languages only have five vowels: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. In English and other languages, like the Scandinavian ones, we may encounter more than 10 vowels, which include sounds that even shape the meaning of a word.

However, in Mediterranean languages, these five vowels are used everywhere, which is also why many native speakers of Spanish, Italian, and Greek may struggle to pronounce words in English and vice versa.

Differences between Italian and Spanish

Even though Spanish and Italian are quite similar, there are many differences between the two languages. There are differences in vocabulary, grammar, as well as pronunciation. Let’s look at some of the most apparent distinctions between them.

Vocabulary differences and false friends

Even though Spanish and Italian have many similarities in terms of common and loan words, a significant portion of their vocabulary differs.

The “false friends” are the most difficult aspect of the Spanish and Italian lexicons. But what are “false friends?” They are cognates, just like the ones mentioned above, but they have completely different meanings.

The fun part about false friends is that, sometimes, the results when messing up these words can range from amusing to hilarious. For instance, you might need to order some butter (burro in Italian) with your breakfast in Madrid and end up asking for a donkey (burro in Spanish) to put on your bread instead.

Here is a list of a few other false friends:

aceite = oil (Sp.) // aceto = vinegar (It.)

caldo = broth (Sp.) // caldo = hot (It.)

demander = to sue, to demand (Sp.) // domandare = to ask (It.)

fama = fame (Sp.) // fama = hunger (It.)

gambas = prawns (Sp.) // gambe = legs (It.)

guardar = to save (Sp.) // guardare = to look at (It.)

largo = wide, long (Sp.) // largo = slow (It.)

oso = bear (Sp.) // osso = bone (It.)

Pronunciation and phonetic diversity

There is a difference between Spanish and Italian pronunciation, even though they share many common sounds and phonemes. The languages’ pronunciations differ due to sound and accent placements. Also, Italian sounds more “melodious,” and the words are usually clearly separated from one another, whereas Spanish sounds are more stressed, and when speaking quickly, the lines between the words can become a little more blurred—not as blurry as in French or Swedish, but still less distinct than in Italian.

Furthermore, the Italian alphabet uses 21 of the Latin alphabet’s 26 letters, whereas Spanish has 27. The Spanish alphabet consists of 26 original letters and the unique character ñ. So, while the languages appear to be similar, they have significant differences in their writing systems and pronunciations.

Use of articles

While both languages use multiple articles, they do not have the same in all the cases. Actually, Italian has a few more articles than Spanish, and they are also used in different situations. This is one of the facts where Italians can be a little trickier.

Spanish has four articles: el (singular masculine), la (singular feminine), los (plural masculine), and las (plural feminine).

On the other hand, in Italian, there are a few more articles to go with. These are:

• il = singular masculine, word starts with a consonant;
• l’ = singular masculine/feminine, word starts with a vowel;
• lo = singular masculine, word starts with s+consonant/ps/x/gn/z;
• la = singular feminine, word starts with a consonant;
• I = plural masculine, word starts with a consonant;
• gli = plural masculine, word starts with s+consonant/ps/x/gn/z;
• le = plural feminine.

Keeping this in mind, as well as some other grammar rules such as suffixes and genders, the differences between the languages can be easily identified without causing problems for learners.

Punctuation marks and accent marks

Another obvious distinction between Italian and Spanish is the use of accents and punctuation.

The Spanish accented letters are the following: á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ.

The Italian accented letters are the following: à, ì, ò, ù, è and é (the only letter with an acute accent).

In these languages, acute and grave accent marks only indicate where the word’s stress falls; they do not affect pronunciation. In Spanish, the diaeresis in ü indicates a “fully” pronounced letter, whereas tilde ñ creates a unique letter not found in Italian.

In Spanish, upside-down punctuation (¿ and ¡) is used at the beginning of sentences ending in “?” and “!”. Inverted punctuation can be useful and very cute as well.

Spanish and Italian: Which language is more useful and easier to learn?

Let’s start by addressing the common question: is Italian easier than Spanish? The short answer is that both languages are easy for English speakers to learn. Based on what we have discussed above, maybe Italian is more difficult for someone who struggles with grammar, and Spanish is more difficult for someone who struggles with pronunciation. But the difference is not that significant.

And our response to the question “which language is more useful” is: there is no answer! Both languages are extremely useful in industry and academia, are widely spoken by millions of people in many countries both in Europe and South America, and are very important culturally. At the end of the day, usefulness is subjective. And my question to you is—why not learn both?

Spanish vs. Italian—One last thing

No matter which language you choose to learn (one of them or both), effective, one-on-one instruction with experienced tutors will always make things easier. You can find the best Spanish and Italian tutors at https://livexp.com. Benefit from our flexible lesson (re)scheduling while learning with tutors from all over the world, learning different accents, and having fun!