Common Spanish Vocabulary Words

by Erik Steel

Overview

Spanish is a Romance language that shares many similarities with languages such as Portuguese, Italian and French. If you speak one of these other languages, you will acquire Spanish vocabulary more quickly, but even people who speak only English will recognize many words derived from the same source in English and Spanish.
Most Common Words

According to Spanish Pronto, the most common words in the Spanish language are: de (of), el/la/los/las (the), que (that, conjunction), y (and), en (in), a (to), se (oneself), no (no), un/una (one), por (by, for), con (with), es (it is), lo (relative pronoun), para (for), su (possessive pronoun), como (like) and más (more).

Jobs

Common words for profession in Spanish include: trabajo (work), trabajador (worker), profesor (teacher), doctor (doctor), abogado (lawyer), enfermero (nurse), jefe (boss) and escritor (writer). Masculine nouns take "el"; to make a noun feminine, add -a (substituting the -o if necessary) and use la: "el profesor" vs. "la profesora."
Food

Food words frequently encountered in Spanish are: alimento (food), plato (plate), tenedor (fork), cuchara (spoon), cuchillo (knife), comida (meal, also means food), leche (milk), carne (meat), granos or cereales (grains), pan (bread), ensalada (salad), verduras (vegetables), frutas (fruits), queso (cheese) and postre (dessert).
Clothing

Common clothing words in Spanish include: camisa (shirt), pantalones (pants), blusa (blouse), falda (skirt), pantaloncillo (shorts), jeans (jeans), calcetines (socks), zapatos (shoes).
Time

The months in order in Spanish (note that they are not capitalized) are: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre. The days of the week beginning with Monday are: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado and domingo.

Overview