100 Essential Esperanto Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Esperanto	Type
hello	saluton	interjection
goodbye	ĝis revido	interjection
yes	jes	interjection
no	ne	interjection
please	bonvolu	interjection
thank you	dankon	interjection
sorry	pardonu	interjection
and	kaj	conjunction
but	sed	conjunction
or	aŭ	conjunction
because	ĉar	conjunction
here	ĉi tie	adverb
there	tie	adverb
always	ĉiam	adverb
never	neniam	adverb
together	kune	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Esperanto	Type
man	viro	noun
woman	virino	noun
boy	knabo	noun
girl	knabino	noun
friend	amiko	noun
mother	patrino	noun
father	patro	noun
brother	frato	noun
sister	fratino	noun
son	filo	noun
daughter	filino	noun
child	infano	noun
husband	edzo	noun
wife	edzino	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Esperanto	Type
to be	esti	verb
to have	havi	verb
to do	fari	verb
to go	iri	verb
to come	veni	verb
to eat	manĝi	verb
to drink	trinki	verb
to want	deziri	verb
to need	bezoni	verb
to know	scii	verb
to speak	paroli	verb
to read	legi	verb
to write	skribi	verb
to listen	aŭskulti	verb
to work	labori	verb
to buy	aĉeti	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Esperanto	Type
good	bona	adjective
bad	malbona	adjective
new	nova	adjective
old	maljuna	adjective
young	juna	adjective
tall	alta	adjective
short	malalta	adjective
nice	agrabla	adjective
kind	bonkora	adjective
shy	timida	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Esperanto	Type
red	ruĝa	adjective
blue	blua	adjective
green	verda	adjective
yellow	flava	adjective
black	nigra	adjective
white	blanka	adjective
orange	oranĝa	adjective
purple	purpura	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Esperanto	Type
one	unu	number
two	du	number
three	tri	number
four	kvar	number
five	kvin	number
six	ses	number
seven	sep	number
eight	ok	number
nine	naŭ	number
ten	dek	number
zero	nulo	number
twenty	dudek	number

Time

10 words

English	Esperanto	Type
today	hodiaŭ	adverb
tomorrow	morgaŭ	adverb
yesterday	hieraŭ	adverb
morning	mateno	noun
afternoon	posttagmezo	noun
evening	vespero	noun
night	nokto	noun
day	tago	noun
week	semajno	noun
month	monato	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Esperanto	Type
water	akvo	noun
coffee	kafo	noun
tea	teo	noun
milk	lakto	noun
bread	pano	noun
cheese	fromaĝo	noun
fruit	frukto	noun
apple	pomo	noun
egg	ovo	noun
rice	rizo	noun

Home

4 words

English	Esperanto	Type
house	domo	noun
door	pordo	noun
window	fenestro	noun
bed	lito	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Esperanto words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Esperanto words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Esperanto

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Esperanto for beginners questions

What are the first Esperanto words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Esperanto that means words like saluton (hello), dankon (thank you), akvo (water) and manĝi (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Esperanto written?

Esperanto uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 15 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak Esperanto?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Esperanto words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.