This series focuses on Fluent Forever’s alphabetical list of the 625 most commonly used words in any language, presented 10 words at a time with their Italian translation.

“Not all words are created equal: we use certain words far more often than others…We get a lot of mileage out of our most frequent words…With only a thousand words [of your target language] you’ll recognize nearly 75 percent of what you read. With two thousand, you’ll hit 80 percent.”

–Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever

Word bank: 

Practice these high-frequency words on Quizlet.

Level: Give it a Try

• She thinks the man with la barba is very bello.
• When I think of Italy, my heart batte fast.
• The letto in my camera da letto is very comfortable.
• Do you prefer il manzo or chicken?
• A cold bevanda, like una birra, tastes good on a hot day.
• In Lucca, you can ride your bicicletta on the top of the city walls.
• Metal does not piegare easily.

Level: Challenge

• Lei pensa che l’uomo con la barba è molto bello.
• Quando penso di Italia, il mio cuore batte veloce.
• Il letto nella mia camera da letto è molto comodo.
• Preferisci il manzo o il pollo?
• Una bevanda fredda, come una birra, gusta buona in una giornata calda.
• A Lucca, si può andare in bicicletta sui muri della città.
• Metallo non si piega facilmente.

Helpful Grammar Links

• Plurals in Italian: In general, singular masculine nouns ending in “0” change to “i”; singular feminine nouns ending in “a” change to “e”. Some words end in “e” and always change to “i” in the plural.
• Adjectives are “matchy matchy” – the ending of an adjective matches in gender and number with the noun they are describing.
• Definite articles: Italian uses definite articles (“the”) much more than English, and each “the” can be different depending on if the noun in question is male or female.
• Indefinite articles (“a”/”an”)

Language Resources

 Forvo, Google Translate, Fluent Forever, WordReference

Catch up on Weekend Italian

Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

This post first appeared on Prayers and Piazzas.