The 1,000 Most Common Catalan Words

Ranked by real-world frequency. Study all of them free with spaced repetition.

More Catalan lists: Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs About learning Catalan

The 1,000 Most Common Catalan Words: the list

Tips for learning Catalan words

• Catalan has two verbs for 'to be', ser and estar, and both appear near the top of the list, so learn them as a contrasting pair rather than as interchangeable synonyms.
• Haver and tenir both translate as 'to have': haver works mainly as the auxiliary in compound tenses, while tenir is the everyday verb for possession, so keep the two uses distinct when you type your answers.
• Many of the highest-frequency verbs here - anar, fer, voler, dir, saber, poder - are irregular, so drill their present-tense forms separately from the infinitive meaning shown on the card.
• Regular -ar verbs such as parlar belong to Catalan's largest verb group; once one -ar pattern is solid, you can predict the endings of many other verbs you meet later.
• Adjectives like bo (good) change for gender and number, so practise the feminine and plural forms aloud too, not just the base form given in the list.
• Very frequent short words such as no and tot are easier to pin down inside full sentences than in isolation, since their placement and exact sense depend heavily on context.