300 Essential Italian Words
I took the liberty of filling out the 300 Essential Words chart devised by @funwithlanguages for Italian. Enjoy!
know - Sapere // Conoscere
that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”) - Che (”Penso che…” o “la donna che…”
so (meaning “therefore”; e.g. “I wanted it, so I bought it”) - Quindi (”Lo volevo, quindi l’ho comprato)
like (meaning “similar to”) - come
for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of) - per
before (also as a conjunction) - prima
after (also as a conjunction) - dopo
too (as in “too tall”) - troppo (”troppo alto”)
so (as in “so tall”) - tanto // così
more (know how to say “more … than …”) - più (”più…. che…”)
less (know how to say “less … than …”) - meno (”meno…. che”
as … as … (e.g. “as tall as”) - come (”alto come”)
most - più // la maggior parte (di)
better - meglio // migliore
best - migliore // meglio
worse - peggio // peggiore
worst - peggiore // peggio
enough - basta // abbastanza
the, a (technically articles) - il, lo, la
that - quel, quello, quella
good - buon, buono/a, bene, bello/a, bravo/a
some - di // del, dello, della // alcune
most - la maggior parte di
enough - abbastanza/basta
last (meaning “past”, e.g. “last Friday”) - scorso/scorsa
last (meaning “final”) - ultimo/a
interesting - interessante
right (meaning “correct”) - giusto/a, vero, proprio
Know them in the subject (“I”), direct object (“me”), indirect object (“to me”), and possessive (“my”) forms.
If your language has grammatical gender, then learn each noun as “the [noun]” with “the” in the correct gender. (e.g. in Spanish, instead of learning language = “idioma”, learn language = “el idioma”.) This will help you remember the gender.
nothing - niente // nulla
time (as in “a long time”) - (un) tempo (”molto tempo fa)
time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - (una) volta (”l’ho fatto 3 volte)
work (as in “I have a lot of work to do”) - lavoro (”ho un sacco di lavoro da fare”)
mother, father, parent - mamma, papà, genitore
daughter, son, child - figlia, figlio, bambino/a
wife, husband - moglie, marito
girlfriend, boyfriend - ragazza/o, fidanzato/a
work (as in a person working) - lavorare (la donna lavora)
work (meaning “to function”, e.g. “the TV works”) - funzionare (”la tv funziona”)
should - dovere (dovere also means “to have to”, i.e. “Devo andare, ciao!” – “I have to go, bye!)
get (meaning “obtain”) - ottenere
start - cominciare // iniziare
stop (doing something) - fermare // smettare
eat breakfast (in several languages, this is a verb) - mangare la colazione
create (aka “make”) - creare
cause (aka “make”) - causare
meet (meeting someone for the first time) - incontrare//conoscere
meet (meaning “to bump into”) - riunare // incontrare
meet (an arranged meeting) - riunare
ask (a question) - chiedere
ask for (aka “request”) - domandare
remember - ricordare (ricordare also means “remind”)
send - mandare // spedire
goodbye - Ciao, ci vediamo, a dopo, a presto
thank you - grazie // ti prego
you’re welcome - prego, di niente, di nulla
excuse me (to get someone’s attention) - scusami
sorry - scusa // mi dispiace
it’s fine (response to an apology) - tranquillo/a
What’s your name? - Come ti chiami?
Nice to meet you. - piacere di conoscerti
How are you? - come stai? (formal: come sta?)
I’m doing well, how about you? - va bene, anche te?
Sorry? / What? (if you didn’t hear something) - scusa? cosa?
How do you say ______? - come si dice ____?
What does ______ mean? - cosa significa _____?
I don’t understand. - non capisco, non ho capito
Could you repeat that? - puoi ripetere?
Could you speak more slowly, please? - Puoi parlare più lentamente, per favore?
Well (as in “well, I think…”) - insomma
Really? - davvero? vero? sul serio? seriamente? veramente?
I guess that - credo che // suppongo che
It’s hot. (talking about the weather) - fa caldo
It’s cold. (talking about the weather) - fa freddo
Sorry in advance for any errors! I’m not a native, so natives out there feel free to correct me on anything I may have messed up!
