Garrett Strommen

Most common 100 words in Spanish

¡Hola a todos!

When learning a new language the amount of vocabulary can be daunting. Have you heard people say things like: “We only use around 700 words when we talk?” This is true to some degree. The number of words to learn to speak a language really depends on your purpose. Remember that 300 to 600 words may be enough to travel, but at least 1,000 words are necessary for a conversation. The most important thing is not knowing how many words you need to speak a language, but which words to know. Complete fluency is in the 10,000 word range. According to the economist: “Most adult native test-takers range from 20,000–35,000 words. Average native test-takers of age 8 already know 10,000 words. Average native test-takers of age 4 already know 5,000 words. Adult native test-takers learn almost 1 new word a day until middle age”

10,000 words. Wow. That does seem daunting when you are first starting out. But like anything new, you just have to start small and keep adding to it. Why not start smart as well? Below is a list of 100 words that are the most commonly used in the Spanish language.

That’s why we wrote this blog article: Find the 100 words used most often in spoken Spanish below.

Why these 100 words?

Let’s imagine that you just got a job as a bartender. Would you try to learn every cocktail known to man, or would you focus on the cocktails that are most popular in your area? We developed this list of words based on the idea of the 80/20 principle (the cornerstone of results-based living). This strategy developed by David Kock that says “The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs or efforts usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs or rewards” So instead of learning 10,000 words in no particular order, learn the most common 100 words, then the most common 500 words, and then the most common 1000 words. If you want to check out this classic business book, you can order it here.

Some other great ways to improve your vocabulary:

Watch Netflix in Original language with original language captions
Check out a great book like this: Spanish Frequency Vocabulary
Do some quick daily exercises on DuoLingo or any other free language learning app
Take some classes with us at Strømmen and speak to a real human in person or online

…Rank…	Word in Spanish	Meaning in English
1	que	that
2	de	of, from
3	no	no
4	a	to
5	la	the (for singular feminine nouns)
6	el	the (for masculine singular nouns)
7	es	he is, she is, it is (for essential characteristics)
8	y	and
9	en	in, on, at
10	lo	it, him (direct-object pronoun)
11	un	a, an (for singular masculine nouns)
12	por	for, by, through
13	qué	what / how (as in “how nice!”)
14	me	me, myself
15	una	a, an (for singular feminine nouns)
16	te	you (direct-object pronoun)
17	los	the (for plural masculine nouns)
18	se	himself, herself, itself
19	con	with
20	para	for, to
21	mi	my
22	está	he is, she is, it is (non-permanent characteristics)
23	si	if
24	bien	well, good
25	pero	but
26	yo	I
27	eso	that
28	las	the (for plural feminine nouns)
29	sí	yes
30	su	his, her, its
31	tu	your
32	aquí	here
33	del	of the, from the, in the
34	al	to the
35	como	how, as, like
36	le	him, her, formal you (indirect object pronoun)
37	más	more
38	esto	this (for singular masculine nouns)
39	ya	already
40	todo	everything
41	esta	this one (for singular feminine nouns)
42	vamos	let’s go, come on
43	muy	very
44	hay	there is
45	ahora	now
46	algo	something
47	estoy	I am (non-permanent characteristics)
48	tengo	I have
49	nos	us
50	tú	you
51	nada	nothing
52	cuando	when
53	ha	he has, she has, it has (auxiliary)
54	este	this one (for singular masculine nouns)
55	sé	I know
56	estás	you are (non-permanent characteristics)
57	así	like this
58	puedo	I can
59	cómo	how
60	quiero	I want
61	sólo	only, just
62	soy	I am (for essential characteristics)
63	tiene	he has, she has, it has
64	gracias	thank you
65	o	or
66	él	he
67	bueno	good
68	fue	he was, she was, it was
69	ser	to be (for permanent characteristics)
70	hacer	to do, to make
71	son	they are (for permanent characteristics)
72	todos	all of us, all of them
73	era	he was, she was, it was (permanent characteristics)
74	eres	you are (permanent characteristics)
75	vez	time (as in “one time”)
76	tienes	you have
77	creo	I believe
78	ella	she
79	he	I have (auxiliary)
80	ese	that one
81	voy	I go
82	puede	he can, she can, it can
83	sabes	you know
84	hola	hello
85	sus	his, her (for plural nouns)
86	porque	because
87	Dios	God
88	quién	who
89	nunca	never
90	dónde	where
91	quieres	you want
92	casa	house
93	favor	favor
94	esa	that one (for singular feminine nouns)
95	dos	two
96	tan	so
97	señor	mister
98	tiempo	time
99	verdad	truth
100	estaba	I was (non-permanent characteristics)