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First 50 Italian Words Every Beginner Should Learn

Lalo Team·Updated April 17, 2026·3 min read

Start your Italian journey with the 50 most essential high-frequency words. These cover roughly 40% of everyday conversation.

These 50 words cover ~40% of everyday Italian

Pronouns(11)

mi

me, to me, myself

/mi/

lo

him, it (direct object); the

/lo/

si

oneself, himself, herself, themselves

/si/

io

I

/ˈio/

questo

this

/ˈkwesto/

tutto

everything, all

/ˈtutto/

ci

us, there, here

/tʃi/

tu

you (informal singular)

/tu/

lei

she, her; you (formal)

/lɛi/

lui

he, him

/ˈlui/

noi

we, us

/noi/

Articles(6)

la

the (feminine singular)

/la/

il

the (masculine singular)

/il/

un

a, an (masculine)

/un/

una

a, an (feminine)

/ˈuna/

le

the (feminine plural); to her

/le/

i

the (masculine plural)

/i/

Core Verbs(7)

è

is

/ɛ/

ha

has

/a/

ho

I have

/ɔ/

sono

I am; they are

/ˈsono/

essere

to be

/ˈɛssere/

avere

to have

/aˈvere/

fare

to do, to make

/ˈfare/

Common Nouns(1)

cosa

thing, what

/ˈkɔza/

Adjectives(1)

mio

my, mine

/ˈmio/

Adverbs(11)

non

not

/non/

come

how, like, as

/ˈkome/

no

no

/nɔ/

più

more, most, plus

/pju/

qui

here

/kwi/

dove

where

/ˈdove/

bene

well, good

/ˈbɛne/

ora

now; hour

/ˈora/

anche

also, too, even

/ˈanke/

quando

when

/ˈkwando/

molto

very, much, a lot

/ˈmolto/

Prepositions(9)

di

of, from

/di/

a

to, at, in

/a/

per

for, in order to

/per/

in

in, into

/in/

con

with

/kon/

da

from, by, since

/da/

del

of the (masculine singular)

/del/

al

to the, at the (masculine singular)

/al/

su

on, upon, about

/su/

Connectors(4)

che

that, which, who

/ke/

e

and

/e/

ma

but

/ma/

se

if, whether

/se/

Start learning Italian now

Start learning Italian now