French for Spanish speakers

You already know more French than you think. Of the 2,264 everyday words in Cognata, 1,592 have a Spanish cognate — the same word, reshaped by centuries of speech. Start from those, learn the regular changes that link the two languages, and keep the false friends in sight.

Sets your pairing to Spanish → French and opens the cognates.

share a source: 70%
inherited on both sides: 24%
to learn fresh: 30%

2,264 words compared

Words you already know

Everyday words whose Spanish and French forms come from the same source.

The sound laws between them

Regular changes that turn a Spanish word into its French cognate — learn one and it pays out across hundreds of words.

False friends to watch

large (French) means “wide” · largo (Spanish) means “long”
Same Latin LARGUM 'abundant'. French large is 'wide' (and English large 'big' came from it); Spanish largo is 'long'.
salir (Spanish) means “to go out, leave” · salir (French) means “to make dirty”
Coincidence. Spanish salir is Latin SALĪRE 'to jump'; French salir comes from sale 'dirty', of Frankish origin (*salo 'murky').
attendre (French) means “to wait (for)” · atender (Spanish) means “to attend to, serve”
Both from Latin ATTENDERE 'to stretch toward, pay attention'. French went from 'paying attention to' to 'waiting for'; Spanish kept the attention.
rester (French) means “to stay” · restar (Spanish) means “to subtract”
Both from Latin RESTĀRE 'to stay behind, remain'. Spanish restar went from 'what remains' to 'take away' (lo que resta still means 'what is left').
quitter (French) means “to leave (a place, a person)” · quitar (Spanish) means “to remove, take off”
Both from Medieval Latin QUIĒTĀRE 'to set free (of a debt)', from QUIĒTUS 'at rest'. French frees itself of a place; Spanish frees something from its place.
entendre (French) means “to hear” · entender (Spanish) means “to understand”
Both from Latin INTENDERE 'to direct (the mind) toward'. French shifted to hearing, keeping 'understand' only in phrases (laisser entendre, bien entendu); Spanish kept understanding.
ropa (Spanish) means “clothes” · robe (French) means “dress”
Both from Germanic *rauba 'booty, spoils' — clothes being what was stripped from the defeated (Spanish robar 'to steal' is the same root). Spanish generalized it; French narrowed it to one garment.
demander (French) means “to ask (for)” · demandar (Spanish) means “to sue; to demand”
Both from Latin DĒMANDĀRE 'to entrust'. French softened it to ordinary asking (as did Italian domandare); Spanish kept the legal claim.
nombre (Spanish) means “name” · nombre (French) means “number”
Two Latin words that converged: Spanish nombre is NŌMEN 'name', from its oblique stem NŌMINE (m'n → mbr), French nombre is NUMERUM 'number' (m'r → mbr).
user (French) means “to wear out” · usar (Spanish) means “to use”
Both from spoken Latin *ŪSĀRE, built on ŪSUS 'use'. French narrowed it to using something up (user ses chaussures); user de 'to make use of' survives only in formal French.
envie (French) means “desire, urge (avoir envie de: to want)” · envidia (Spanish) means “envy”
Both from Latin INVIDIAM 'envy'. French envie still can mean envy, but its everyday use is 'wanting'; j'ai envie de café is 'I feel like a coffee', not jealousy.
crier (French) means “to shout” · criar (Spanish) means “to raise, bring up”
Coincidence. French crier comes from spoken Latin *CRĪTĀRE (classical QUIRĪTĀRE 'to cry out') — the source of Spanish gritar too; Spanish criar is CREĀRE 'to create, beget'.

Words to learn fresh

Common words where French went its own way.