Italian 300 most common word vocabulary: 300 words
The 300 most common everyday words, ranked by real-world usage — the fastest route to understanding most of what you hear (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their Italian translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.
English to Italian: the first 40 words
| English | Italian | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| like | piacere | To find something pleasant or attractive, not to be similar. |
| time | tempo | The ongoing passage of moments, measured in hours, days and years. |
| new | nuovo | Recently made or just come into existence, not old. |
| people | gente | Human beings in general, thought of as a group of individuals. |
| good | buono | Of high quality or morally right; the opposite of bad. |
| first | primo | Coming before all others in order or sequence. |
| know | sapere | To have knowledge or be acquainted with; not to learn for the first time. |
| see | vedere | To perceive something with your eyes. |
| make | fare | To bring something into existence by shaping or assembling it. |
| think | pensare | To form ideas in your mind or hold an opinion. |
| want | volere | To wish for something or desire to have it. |
| way | modo | A method or manner of doing something. Not a road or path. |
| need | avere bisogno | To require something because you cannot manage without it. |
| right | giusto | Correct or accurate, not a direction or legal entitlement. |
| work | lavoro | Effort done as a job or task, often to earn money. |
| year | anno | A period of twelve months. |
| day | giorno | A period of twenty-four hours, or the hours when it is light. |
| take | prendere | To get hold of something with your hands and carry it away. |
| many | molti | A large number of things or persons. |
| life | vita | The state of being alive, or the span between birth and death. |
| say | dire | To express something in words aloud. |
| world | mondo | The earth and everyone living on it. |
| great | grande | Very large in size or importance; remarkable. |
| last | ultimo | Most recent or final in a series, not to continue or endure. |
| best | migliore | Of the highest quality, surpassing all others. |
| love | amare | Deep affection or attachment, not mild preference. |
| man | uomo | An adult male human. |
| home | casa | Where you live and feel belonging; not just a building. |
| long | lungo | Measuring a lot from one end to the other, or lasting many hours. |
| look | guardare | To direct your gaze, not appearance or expression. |
| use | usare | To employ an object or means for some purpose. |
| part | parte | A piece or section of a larger whole. |
| state | stato | A condition or situation, not a region or to say aloud. |
| three | tre | The count that follows two. |
| better | migliore | Of higher quality or more desirable than something else. |
| find | trovare | To come upon or locate something you were looking for. |
| help | aiutare | To do something that makes another person's task or trouble easier. |
| high | alto | Reaching far up from the ground or set well above it. |
| little | piccolo | Of small size or amount. |
| old | vecchio | Having existed or lived for a long time. Not new. |
260 more words in the full “300 Most Common Words” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to Italian in one click.
What to watch out for in Italian
- 51 of these 300 words are near-identical in English and Italian (17%) —
base,video,York. Those are free; the value of drilling is in the rest. - Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need
àèéìòóù— LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type. - 300 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.
Practise Italian 300 most common word vocabulary
Words come back just before you would forget them, and every language direction is tracked separately.