By Anna Maria Last updated: September 7, 2023

210+ Common Spanish Words and Phrases to Build Your Vocabulary

When it comes to travel, education, business situations and personal communication, common words rule the day.

Nearly any Spanish conversation calls for an understanding of basic vocabulary.

In your day-to-day interactions with friends, neighbors and co-workers, chances are that you’re using basic nouns, verbs, interrogative words and conversational phrases.

Let’s go over this list of over 210 words to start building your Spanish core vocabulary!

Most Common Spanish Words
Common Spanish Greetings and Conversational Phrases
Common Spanish Nouns
Common Spanish Verbs
Common Spanish Adjectives and Colors
Common Spanish Numbers
Common Spanish Words for People and Animals
Common Spanish Words Related to Food
Spanish Question Words
Easy Spanish Words (Spanish-English Cognates!)
Common Spanish Words for Traveling
More Resources to Learn Spanish Vocabulary

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Most Common Spanish Words

There are certain Spanish words that you will hear pretty much everyday. Here are some of the most common Spanish words.

Hola — hello
Adiós — bye
Sí — yes
No — no
Por favor — please
Gracias — thank you
Lo siento — I’m sorry
Perdón — sorry/excuse me
¿Cómo estás? — how are you?
De nada — you’re welcome
Yo quiero… — I want…
Me gusta… — I like…
No me gusta… — I don’t like…
El / La — the
Yo — I, me
Tú — You
Él — he, him
Ella — she, her
Usted — you (formal)
Nosotros — we
Vosotros — you (plural)
Ellos / Ellas — they, them
Ustedes — You (plural)
Por / Para — for

Common Spanish Greetings and Conversational Phrases

If you want to start a conversation, you need to know how to greet someone properly. Then you’ll need to whip out some phrases that allow for basic communication in any situation. Learn these essentials phrases to speak with friends as well as strangers!

Buenos días — good morning
Buenas tardes — good afternoon
Buenas noches — good night
¿Cómo te llamas? — what’s your name?
Me llamo… — my name is…
¿Qué tal? — how are you?/how’s it going?
¿Cómo te va? — how’s it going?
¿Qué pasa? — what’s up?
¿Cómo está usted? — how are you? (formal)
Bien, gracias — fine, thank you
¿Y tú? — and you?
Estoy… — I am…
Feliz — happy
Triste — sad
Estoy buscando… — I’m looking for…
¿Qué haces? — what are you doing?
¿Te gusta…? — do you like…?

Common Spanish Nouns

Nouns identify people, places or things, and they make up a large percentage of Spanish core vocabulary. They’re some of the most basic words and are used in nearly every sentence—so get to know a few of the most common ones!

La casa — the house
La mesa — the table
La ventana — the window
La silla — the chair
La puerta — the door
El reloj — the clock/watch
El piso — the floor
El coche / El carro — the car
La calle — the street
La tienda — the store
La biblioteca — the library
El libro — the book
La playa — the beach
La montaña — the mountain
La iglesia — the church
El museo — the museum
La universidad — the university
El aeropuerto — the airport
La nariz — the nose
Los ojos — the eyes
La boca — the mouth
La cabeza — the head
El brazo — the arm
La pierna — the leg
La mano — the hand
El pie — the foot
El árbol — tree
La flor — flower
La vez — time (as in “five times”)
La parte — part
El tiempo — time
La vida — life
El gobierno — government
El día — day
El país — country
Los años — years

Common Spanish Verbs

Verbs describe actions and are essential words when speaking any language. Of course, you’ll need to learn all their conjugations, but when memorizing new verbs it’s always best to learn the infinitive.

Abrir — to open
Ayudar — to help
Bailar — to dance
Cambiar — to change
Caminar — to walk
Cantar — to sing
Comenzar — to begin
Contar — to count/tell
Comprar — to buy
Correr — to run
Creer — to think/believe
Dar — to give
Deber — to have to
Decir — to say
Entender — to understand
Estar — to be
Estudiar — to study
Gustar — to like
Haber — to have
Hablar — to speak/talk
Hacer — to do/make
Ir — to go
Jugar — to play
Llamar — to call
Pagar — to pay
Partir — to leave/divide
Pedir — to ask for
Poder — to be able to
Poner — to put
Preguntar — to ask
Querer — to want
Saber — to know
Ser — to be
Tener — to have
Viajar — to travel
Visitar — to visit
Vivir — to live

Common Spanish Adjectives and Colors

Grande — big
Pequeño — small
Caliente — hot
Frío — cold
Mojado — wet
Seco — dry
Izquierda — left
Derecha — right
Rojo — red
Rosa — pink
Naranja — orange
Amarillo — yellow
Verde — green
Azul — blue
Marrón — brown
Negro — black
Blanco — white

Common Spanish Numbers

Uno — one
Dos — two
Tres — three
Cuatro — four
Cinco — five
Seis — six
Siete — seven
Ocho — eight
Nueve — nine
Diez — ten

Common Spanish Words for People and Animals

Of course you’ll probably need to know some words to describe people and animals, since those are things you’ll also probably encounter every day!

La persona — the person
El hombre — the man
La mujer — the woman
El niño — the boy
La niña — the girl
La familia — the family
El esposo — the husband
La esposa — the wife
El padre — the father
La madre — the mother
El hijo — the son
La hija — the daughter
El hermano – the brother
La hermana – the sister
El abuelo — the grandfather
La abuela — the grandmother
El tío — the uncle
La tía — the aunt
El primo — the cousin (m)
La prima — the cousin (f)
La mascota — the pet
El gato — the cat (m)
La gata — the cat (f)
El perro — the dog (m)
La perra — the dog (f)
El pájaro — the bird

Common Spanish Words Related to Food

Food is a big part of Spanish culture, so here are the essential words for you to order your favorite meal!

La comida — the food
La bebida — the drink
El pan — the bread
El huevo — the egg
La fruta — the fruit
La verdura — the vegetable
El arroz — the rice
El frijol — the bean
La carne — the meat
La papa / La patata — the potato
El café — the coffee
El té — the tea
El vino — the wine
La cerveza — the beer
La leche — the milk
El agua — the water
El jugo / El zumo – the juice
El desayuno — breakfast
El almuerzo — lunch
La cena — dinner
El restaurante — the restaurant

Spanish Question Words

Asking questions is an important part of speaking any language. These are the words you need to ask questions in Spanish:

¿Cómo? — how?
¿Cuál? — which?
¿Cuándo? — when?
¿Dónde? — where?
¿Por qué? — why?
¿Qué? — what?
¿Quién? — who?

Easy Spanish Words (Spanish-English Cognates!)

Cognates are words that have the same origin or root word. There are hundreds of Spanish and English cognates, but start with learning these as an excellent way to effortlessly increase your vocabulary!

Tren — train
Necesario — necessary
Ordinario — ordinary
Público — public
Minuto — minute
Acción — action
Nación — nation
Organización – organization
Tradicional — traditional
Posible — possible
Básico — basic

Common Spanish Words for Traveling

La maleta — suitcase
El regalo — present
El avión — plane
La escala — stopover/layover
Viajar — to travel
Descansar — to rest
Dar un paseo — to go for a walk
La playa — beach
El hotel — hotel

More Resources to Learn Spanish Vocabulary

Common Spanish words open doors by facilitating communication. The more common vocabulary you know, the better off you’ll be.

This list is a great spot to start building your foundational vocabulary, but there are tons of great resources out there that can get you learning and practicing even more common Spanish words!

Here are some of the best resources to find more common Spanish vocabulary words to add to your word bank and build your core vocabulary!

1000MostCommonWords

This site contains a comprehensive list of 1,000 useful Spanish words that cover a wide variety of topics.

If your intent is to grow your vocabulary and add common words to your skillset, then this is a super great resource.

FluentU

FluentU is all about learning Spanish through authentic videos that native speakers would watch.

The language learning program takes short Spanish clips from movies, TV shows, news segments and more and adds tools to help you learn the language as it’s actually used.

Each video comes with interactive subtitles that allow you to see information about different vocabulary words (such as the contextual definition and pronunciation information) in real time. There are also review tools built into the app, such as a video-based dictionary, quizzes and personalized flashcards.

SpanishVocabulary.ca

This vocabulary resource provides several lists divided into topics with some of the most common Spanish words.

Whether you’re honing your skills on greetings, body parts, shopping lingo or a number of other subjects, all of the applicable vocabulary is pre-sorted and labeled.

The website’s interface is very simple, so it’s easy to navigate and find vocabulary about whatever you want.

EnglishnSpanish.com

This resource has 1,000 common Spanish words and is more interactive than just a list of vocabulary.

The words and translations are divided into lists of 20 random words alphabetically sorted.

At the end of each list, learners are given the opportunity to take a quiz on what they’ve just learned. Each quiz asks learners to choose the correct translation of a word, so it’s a pretty straightforward, speedy process.

Quizzing yourself is a great method for gauging retention of these common words.

Now that you have over 210 more words in your core Spanish vocabulary, you have a good basis for most conversations.

So why not take a look at some not-so-common vocab, too?

Keep learning words and building that foundation!