Lenormand's a 36-card system. People usually read it in small spreads like three or five cards, though you can go bigger with a nine-card portrait. The most complex layout is the Grand Tableau, which uses all 36 cards.
One big difference from tarot: Lenormand isn't really about intuitively reading the artwork. Each card has a set meaning, so a blue house and a red house are both just... a house. The images are simple - tree, moon, house - and you work by combining those meanings rather than improvising off the art.
Think of it like forming sentences. You put cards together and they tell a little story. The significator, the central card, sets the focus. You can pick it yourself or let the cards pick it. A lot of decks also show playing card pips, which can be overwhelming at first, so it's totally fine to ignore them until you want that extra layer.
A few cards will look familiar if you know tarot - Moon, Sun, Tower, Star - but don't assume they mean the same. Tarot's Tower is upheaval; in Lenormand the Tower is neutral, usually a building or something bureaucratic. Tarot's Moon is often about confusion or inner conflict, while Lenormand's Moon leans positive: recognition, creativity, honor. And the kind of confusion tarot covers is more the Clouds card in Lenormand.
