French vs Italian: Which Is Easier, and How Similar Are They?

Key takeaways

French and Italian are in the same Foreign Service Institute difficulty group (Category I).
Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some French words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not.
Study time will not decide it, so start with the one you will actually use.

How hard is each one?

For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 552–690 class hours. These are the figures behind the how long does it take to learn a language calculator, from the US Foreign Service Institute's published language training times.

	French	Italian
FSI difficulty group	Category I	Category I
Class hours to working proficiency	552–690	552–690
Full-time weeks	24–30	24–30

The hours are for a native English speaker in full-time classes aiming at professional working proficiency. Useful everyday conversation comes sooner, and the calculator breaks the time down by level.

How much do the words overlap?

Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some French words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not.

A few everyday words that look alike in French and Italian:

English	French	Italian
airport	aéroport	aeroporto
centimeter	centimètre	centimetro
continent	continent	continente
fifty	cinquante	cinquanta
ladybug	coccinelle	coccinella
milliliter	millilitre	millilitro
pants	pantalon	pantaloni
temperature	température	temperatura

And a few everyday words that look completely different:

English	French	Italian
Germany	Allemagne	Germania
bored	s'ennuyer	annoiato
custom	coutume	usanza
fence	clôture	recinzione
hit	frapper	colpire
nine	neuf	nove
room	pièce	stanza
sweater	pull	maglione

Writing system and grammar

Both use the Latin alphabet, so neither asks you to learn a new script, though each has its own spelling rules and special letters.

	French	Italian
Writing system	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet
Grammatical genders	2 (masculine, feminine)	2 (masculine, feminine)
Noun cases	None	None
Tones	No	No

Which should you learn first?

Study time will not decide this one, because the two ask for about the same. If you want to reach a particular place, a person or a job, start with the one you will actually use: steady motivation counts for more than the difference in hours.

Frequently asked questions

Is French easier than Italian?

For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 552–690 class hours. Hours are for a native English speaker reaching professional working proficiency in full-time classes; casual learning gets you to useful conversation well before that.

How similar are French and Italian?

Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some French words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not. They are both Romance languages, both descended from Latin.

Should I learn French or Italian first?

Can speakers of French and Italian understand each other?

Some can, to a degree, but it varies a lot from person to person and with practice. Written text is usually easier to follow than fast speech.

Keep going

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