Choose by where and with whom you will use it. The FSI lists French and Spanish both at 30 weeks for English speakers, so neither is easier on paper. Spanish is simpler to read aloud; French spelling hides silent letters. The Instituto Cervantes counts over 630 million potential Spanish speakers; the OIF counts 396 million French speakers.
- FSI time: French
- 30 weeks (Category I)
- FSI time: Spanish
- 30 weeks (Category I)
- French speakers (OIF, 2026 report)
- 396 million
- Spanish speakers (Instituto Cervantes, 2025)
- Over 630 million potential speakers
- Same spelling, top 100 A1 words
- 12 of 100 in our libraries
Is French or Spanish easier for English speakers?
On the most quoted measure, it's a tie. The US Foreign Service Institute, which trains American diplomats, puts both in Category I, its group of languages close to English, and lists both at 30 weeks of full-time training. Italian and Portuguese, in the same group, are listed at 24.
Where they differ is in which part feels hard. Spanish is spelled almost as it sounds, so a beginner can read a page aloud on day one. French keeps letters it no longer says: in the free A1 chapters of the Contos French library, about 6 words in 10 end in a silent letter, and words join up through liaison. Learners usually find French reading easy to start and French listening slow to follow. Our guides to French pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation set the two side by side.
The grammar is a close match. Both have two genders, verbs with many endings, a subjunctive and a split between formal and informal you (vous and tu; usted and tú). Spanish has two verbs for "to be", ser and estar; French has one, être. For the full picture, see is French hard? and is Spanish hard?
How similar are French and Spanish, word for word?
Related, but rarely identical. We compared the 100 most common word forms (names left out) in the free A1 chapters of the Contos French and Spanish libraries: 24 chapters in each, with different writers and plots. Only 12 are spelled exactly the same: a, café, de, en, la, le, que, se, son, un, va and y. And four of those are false friends:
- a: French "has" (il a), Spanish "to".
- le: French "the" (le café), Spanish "to him, to her" (le dice).
- son: French "his, her" (son téléphone), Spanish "they are".
- y: French "there" (il y a), Spanish "and".
Most common words are recognisably related, a few letters apart, while some of the most frequent are completely different.
| French | Spanish | English | How close |
|---|---|---|---|
| café, la | café, la | coffee, the | Identical |
| téléphone | teléfono | phone | A letter or two apart |
| lentement | lentamente | slowly | A letter or two apart |
| porte | puerta | door | Related |
| fenêtre | ventana | window | Related |
| voix | voz | voice | Related |
| très | muy | very | Different word |
| mais | pero | but | Different word |
| regarde | mira | looks at | Different word |
| rien | nada | nothing | Different word |
| il y a | hay | there is | Different word |
Both libraries include an A1 romantic comedy built on the same idea, Engaged by Mistake: a joke marriage proposal goes to the wrong man with the right name. The French version follows Sophie, an architect in Lyon. Here is her message:
Elle écrit un message WhatsApp. Le message est drôle. Elle écrit : « Salut Marc ! Tu veux m'épouser ? C'est une blague... ou pas ? »The Spanish heroine, María, keeps it shorter: "Oye, ¿nos casamos?" (Hey, shall we get married?). French épouser and Spanish casarse are different verbs for the same thing, and the punctuation differs too: French puts a space before ? and !, Spanish opens the question with ¿. Read the French Engaged by Mistake chapters free.
Which language is more useful for you?
By headcount, Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes's 2025 yearbook counts well over 630 million potential Spanish speakers, more than 500 million of them native. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie's 2026 report counts 396 million French speakers and 170 million learners of and in French, and ranks French fourth among world languages. The two bodies count differently, so compare the scale, not the decimals.
Headcount isn't the whole story. Decide by the people, places and media you care about:
- Choose French for France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec or French-speaking Africa, for French books, film and music, or for work where French is the shared language.
- Choose Spanish for Spain and Latin America, or if you live among Spanish speakers, as many people in the US do.
- Undecided? Read chapter 1 of a story in each and keep going with the one you want to finish. Over a year, motivation matters more than any ranking.
Mind the variety. Contos teaches France French, set in Paris, Lyon and the French regions, and Spain Spanish, with words like piso for a flat.
Should you learn both, and in which order?
Both is realistic, one after the other. The overlap that helps later makes the two easy to blur early on, especially the small words: French a and Spanish a, French son and Spanish son. A sensible rule is to get the first language to a solid B1, where you read stories comfortably, before starting the second.
The order matters less than people think. Spanish first gives you a language you can read aloud straight away; French first gives you the harder spelling while you are fresh. Either way, the second will feel like a shortcut: grammar such as gender, the subjunctive and tu versus formal you carries straight over.
Contos keeps one learning language per account, so pick one to start. Both libraries have the same shape: series from A1 to B2, a new series every week and chapters 1–2 of every series free.
Try chapter 1 of an A1 French story. If it hooks you, you have your answer.
Read free in your browserFrequently asked questions
Is French harder than Spanish?
The FSI lists both at 30 weeks, so not officially. In practice French pronunciation and listening take longer, because of silent letters and liaison, while the grammar is similar in difficulty.
Can Spanish speakers understand French?
Written French, partly: many words are related, such as téléphone and teléfono. Spoken French is much harder for them, because its vowels and silent endings sound unlike Spanish. Expect to need listening practice either way.
Which is more useful, French or Spanish?
Spanish has more speakers: over 630 million potential speakers by the Instituto Cervantes's count, against 396 million French speakers by the OIF's. Usefulness depends on where you live, travel and work, so choose the language you will actually hear and use.
Will learning French make Spanish easier later?
Yes. Gender, the subjunctive, formal and informal you and a large share of vocabulary carry over. The risks are false friends such as a and son, and letting French sounds slip into your Spanish.
Does Contos teach Canadian French?
No, Contos stories are written in France French. Learners of Canadian French can read them easily; the differences are mostly a handful of everyday words and pronunciation.