Your first 100 Italian words

How was this list of Italian words counted?

Lists of first words are usually somebody's guess. This one is counted. We took the free chapters (1 and 2) of all 24 A1 and A2 series in the Contos Italian library, 48 chapters and 9,673 words of story text, and counted every word form. We dropped character names and any word that appeared in fewer than 5 of the 48 chapters, so no single story's dog or parcel could sneak in. The 100 most frequent forms left are below; two more words, prende and sotto, tie with the last ones at 17 uses.

Together they make up about 51% of every word in those chapters, and about 53% of the A1 chapters alone. Learn them and half of a beginner story is already familiar.

For a general-purpose list, Tullio De Mauro's Nuovo vocabolario di base ranks about 7,000 Italian words from a sample of almost 19 million running words; its 2,000 "fundamental" words cover 86% of them. For why a short list goes so far, see how many Italian words you need.

Which little words hold Italian sentences together?

Articles, prepositions and linking words are 36 of the 100. You don't study them so much as learn to recognise them instantly.

Articles: the and a (8)

Italian chooses the article by the next word's gender and first sound: il telefono but lo sguardo and l'appartamento; i capelli but gli occhi. Save every noun with its article and the pattern sinks in by itself.

Prepositions, alone and combined (17)

Half of this table is prepositions fused with an article. Di, a, da, in and su join il, la, le and the rest: di + il = del, in + la = nella, su + il = sul. Learn to spot the preposition inside and the meaning follows.

Linking words, questions and no (11)

Non and no split a job that English gives to one word: non makes a verb negative (non parla, he doesn't speak) and no is the answer. Watch the accent, too: perché with an accent means both "why" and "because".

Which Italian verb forms come first?

Beginner stories are told in the present, mostly about one person at a time, so the commonest forms are third person singular: he or she "looks", "says", "smiles". That is why the list shows dice, not dire. Learn the form you see; the dictionary form is there for looking up the rest of the verb later.

Two pairs need care. È with an accent is "is"; e without one is "and". And sa (from sapere) and conosce (from conoscere) both translate as "knows": sapere is for facts, conoscere for people and places. Visto shows the passato prossimo already arriving in beginner text: ho visto, I saw.

Which pronouns, nouns and adverbs should you know?

Pronouns and possessives (11)

Suo and sua agree with the thing owned, not the owner, so sua madre can be his mother or her mother. Context decides.

How, when and how many (12)

People, places and things (17)

Signora and nonna are common because stories use them as titles: Nonna Pina runs the guesthouse in The Bellavista Guesthouse, and in standard Italian la signora Rossi takes an article when you talk about her. Caffè keeps its accent in writing, which tells you the stress falls on the last syllable.

Words stick faster from a story than from a table. Read a free chapter and see how many of these you spot; if you prefer themes, try our Italian phrase guides.