When learning anything, there's always the long way of doing it, and a shortcut. Some people find a way to learn how to lose 20 lbs in just a few months, while others struggle for years. Some people can pick up an instrument and learn how to play it within weeks, while others never learn.When it comes to learning Spanish, one of the major shortcuts is focusing on the most common words. Let's explore why.
Why focus on just the most common words?
A study done on the Spanish language revealed that:
Studying the first 1000 most frequently used words in the language will familiarize you with 76.0% of all vocabulary in non-fiction literature, 79.6% of all vocabulary in fiction literature, and 87.8% of vocabulary in oral speech.
Studying the 2000 most frequently used words will familiarize you with 84% of vocabulary in non-fiction, 86.1% of vocabulary in fictional literature, and 92.7% of vocabulary in oral speech.
And studying the 3000 most frequently used words will familiarize you with 88.2% of vocabulary in non-fiction, 89.6% of vocabulary in fiction, and 94.0% of vocabulary in oral speech.
The key point to focus on here is the difference in results from 1,000 most common words to 2,000 words.In terms of vocabulary in oral speech, while learning the first 1,000 most common words will help you familiarize with ~88% of Spanish, learning the next 1,000 will only increase your knowledge by 4.9%.
While the extra 4.9% may make a difference if you're planning to use Spanish on a regular basis, it's undeniable that to get the most results with the least effort is focusing on the first 1,000. And the same will apply for learning the first 100 most common words versus 1,000.With that said, we're going to share with you the first 100 most common words. Then we'll share below how you can easily learn the next 900 Spanish words, including links to resources we recommend.
100 most common Spanish words
de of, from, byla theel thea to, atlos theun a, an, onelas thedel of the, from the, by theuna a, an, oneal to the, at thedos twouno onecada eachtres threeunos some, a fewConjunctions:
que that, who, which, thany ando orcomo as, likepero butsi ifporque becausecuando whenni nor, neitherdonde wherey andaunque although, even thoughsino but, exceptmientras while
Prepositions:
en in, on, intopor through, for (means), along, bycon withpara in order to, for (ends)sin withoutsobre about, above, on top ofentre between, amonghasta untildesde from, sincedurante during, for (time)contra againsthacia towardsegún according toPronouns:
se himself, herself, itself, yourself, yourselves, themselveseach otherlo it, thatsu his, her, yourme (to) mele (to) him, her, yousus his, her, your, theiryo Iqué what(?)mi mynos (to) us, ourselveste (to) youeso thatél he, himnada nothingesto thisella she, herusted youcómo how(?)les (to) them, youalgo somethingellos they, themmí menosotros we, ustu yourAdverbs:
no no, notmás moreya already, now, soonmuy verytambién alsosí yesasí so, thus, like this,like thatbien wellsolo (solamente) onlyahora nowsiempre alwaystan soentonces thendespués after, latermenos lessaquí hereantes before, earlierhoy todayluego then, laterademás besides, in additioncasi almostnunca never
Verbs:
es is, areha has, haveson areestá is, arehay there is, there areser to beera was, werehabía there was, there weretiene has, havefue was, werepuede canhan havehacer to make, to dohace make(s), do(es)decir to sayva go(es)estaba was, weresea (might) bever to seeestán aresido beendijo saidhe I havecreo I believetienen havetenía haddice says, sayvamos we go, we are goingtener to haveparece seems, seempoder to be able topueden canAdjectives:
este thistodo allesta thistodos all, everyoneese thatmismo sameotro other, anotheresa thatbueno goodotra other, anothertanto so muchotros other, otherspoco little (not much)mucho muchgran great, bigestos thesegeneral generaltodas all, everyonemayor bigger, oldermejor bettertoda alltal suchotras other, othersestas theseprimera firstalgunos some
Nouns:
los años yearsla vez time (una vez = once)la parte partla vida lifeel tiempo time, weatherel día dayel mundo worldel estado stateel gobierno governmentla casa houseel hombre manel país countryla forma wayel año yearel caso caseel hecho factel momento momentlas cosas thingsEspaña Spainel trabajo worklos días daysla política policy, politicslas veces timesla gente peopleel lugar placeel ejemplo examplelas personas peoplela mujer woman
If you’re interested in finding out the other 900 list of Spanish words, here they are:
-1,000 most common Spanish words (audio version)-1,000 most common Spanish words (flash card version)-5,000 most common Spanish words (memrise)
Best resources to learn the most common Spanish words
While everyone learns and memorizes differently, there are a few resources that we can recommend to you to accelerate the process.
Anki
Anki makes it easy for you to create online flashcards to remember things faster. You can create it on your desktop, and take it with you on-the-go on your tablet or smartphone by downloading their app.
Memrise
Memrise is an online community and memorization tool to help you memorize anything with ease, including Spanish words. In fact, Memrise has dedicated channels that are specifically built for languages like Spanish, French, Italian, German, and more.We found this Memrise channel, which shares the first 5,00 words of Spanish that you can go through.
Jumpspeak
Our app Jumpspeak will teach you how to use the most common Spanish words you've learned in real conversation settings. You can get real-time feedback with our speech recognition, while improving your listening skills at the same time. It's next level immersion.
Ready for the next chapter? We're going to talk about Spanish Exercises you can do.
Chapter List
1. Why Learn Spanish?2. Where to Learn Spanish?3. Spanish Blogs4. Spanish Podcasts5. Spanish Youtube Channels6. Free Spanish Apps7. Most Common Spanish Words8. Spanish Exercises 9. Spanish Lessons10. Spanish For Kids11. Spanish For Business
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