Most European languages fall within a language family called Indo-European. The Romance, Germanic, Celtic, and Balto-Slavic language groups are all within the Indo-European family. English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic are all Germanic languages, sharing many similarities in vocabulary and grammar. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian are all Romance/Latin languages, and they all also have many similarities in vocabulary and grammar.

Many of these languages have characteristics and vocabulary from other groups, most notably English, which is traditionally classified as a Germanic language but has an enormous quantity of Romance vocabulary in large part due to England's long and complicated relationship with France.

Modern English is descended from Middle English, which is descended from Old English. Old English was introduced to the place now called England through Germanic migrants collectively known as Anglo-Saxons. Over time Anglo-Saxon became the dominant culture and language of Southern Britain, and the land under their influence became known as England, or land of the Angles.

Here is a detailed family tree of Indo-European languages. Red languages are no longer spoken while green ones are still alive.