Italian A1: 300 Core Words With Grammar and Examples

Knowing that casa means house is not the same as being able to use it in a sentence.

300 cardsLast updated 2026-08-30

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Beginners in Italian usually stall in the same place. The English meaning is easy to recall, and then the sentence falls apart because the noun's gender was never learnt with it, or the verb turned out to be irregular exactly where it mattered. La mano ends in o and is feminine. Il braccio has a feminine plural. Piacere puts the thing you like in the subject position, which is why mi piacciono i film has a plural verb. So every card here carries two lines instead of a translation: the English sense, and, where it applies, what you need to use the word: gender and plural for a noun, conjugation class and irregularity for a verb, agreement for an adjective. Nouns always appear with their article, because in Italian the article is part of knowing the word. The 300 words are cut into six sections: people and daily life, food and shopping, places and travel, core verbs, describing and connecting, and time, numbers and everyday phrases. The verb section covers essere and avere, the three regular conjugations, the common irregulars, reflexives and modals, plus the basics of how tenses are formed. That is the level the Council of Europe describes as A1: personal information, routine situations and memorised phrases. Once the deck is on a spaced-repetition schedule, the words that have stuck stop appearing and the irregular ones keep coming back until they do not need thinking about.

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What's inside

Showing 100 representative cards from the full 300-card deck.

Front	Back
la famiglia — what does it mean?	the family Feminine noun, plural le famiglie.
il figlio — what does it mean?	the son Masculine noun, plural i figli, which also means children in general.
la sorella — what does it mean?	the sister Feminine noun, plural le sorelle.
il marito — what does it mean?	the husband Masculine noun, plural i mariti.
il nome — what does it mean?	the name, first name Masculine noun, plural i nomi.
l'età — what does it mean?	the age Feminine noun, invariable in the plural because of the final stressed vowel.
la nazionalità — what does it mean?	the nationality Feminine noun, invariable in the plural.
lo studente — what does it mean?	the student, male Masculine noun, plural gli studenti. Feminine la studentessa.
la testa — what does it mean?	the head Feminine noun, plural le teste.
la mano — what does it mean?	the hand Feminine despite the ending in o. Irregular plural le mani.
la gamba — what does it mean?	the leg Feminine noun, plural le gambe.
i capelli — what does it mean?	the hair on the head Masculine, normally used in the plural.
i vestiti — what does it mean?	the clothes Masculine plural of il vestito, which also means dress or suit.
le scarpe — what does it mean?	the shoes Feminine plural of la scarpa.
la casa — what does it mean?	the house, the home Feminine noun, plural le case. A casa means at home or home.
la cucina — what does it mean?	the kitchen, also cooking Feminine noun, plural le cucine.
il letto — what does it mean?	the bed Masculine noun, plural i letti.
la sedia — what does it mean?	the chair Feminine noun, plural le sedie.
svegliarsi — what does it mean?	to wake up Reflexive verb of the first conjugation. Mi sveglio, ti svegli, si sveglia.
lavarsi — what does it mean?	to wash oneself Reflexive verb of the first conjugation.
andare a scuola — what does it mean?	to go to school Fixed expression with the irregular verb andare and the preposition a.
dormire — what does it mean?	to sleep Regular verb of the third conjugation. Dormo, dormi, dorme.
la colazione — what does it mean?	the breakfast Feminine noun, plural le colazioni. Used with the verb fare.
il pane — what does it mean?	the bread Masculine noun, usually used in the singular.
la carne — what does it mean?	the meat Feminine noun, plural le carni is rare.
la frutta — what does it mean?	the fruit Feminine collective noun, used in the singular.
l'uovo — what does it mean?	the egg Masculine noun with the irregular feminine plural le uova.
l'acqua — what does it mean?	the water Feminine noun, plural le acque.
il caffè — what does it mean?	the coffee Masculine noun, invariable in the plural because of the stressed final vowel.
mangiare — what does it mean?	to eat Regular first conjugation. The i is kept before endings starting with e.
il ristorante — what does it mean?	the restaurant Masculine noun, plural i ristoranti.
il cameriere — what does it mean?	the waiter Masculine noun, plural i camerieri. Feminine la cameriera.
il conto — what does it mean?	the bill Masculine noun, plural i conti.
il negozio — what does it mean?	the shop Masculine noun, plural i negozi.
il mercato — what does it mean?	the market Masculine noun, plural i mercati.
comprare — what does it mean?	to buy Regular verb of the first conjugation.
costare — what does it mean?	to cost Regular first conjugation, usually used in the third person.
i soldi — what does it mean?	the money Masculine, used in the plural in Italian.
la carta di credito — what does it mean?	the credit card Feminine phrase, plural le carte di credito.
il chilo — what does it mean?	the kilogram Masculine noun, plural i chili.
molto — what does it mean?	much, many, very As an adjective it agrees with the noun. As an adverb it does not change.
la città — what does it mean?	the city, the town Feminine noun, invariable in the plural because the final vowel is stressed.
la piazza — what does it mean?	the square Feminine noun, plural le piazze.
il museo — what does it mean?	the museum Masculine noun, plural i musei.
l'ospedale — what does it mean?	the hospital Masculine noun, plural gli ospedali.
dove — what does it mean?	where Question word. Combines with è to give dov'è.
lontano da — what does it mean?	far from Followed by the preposition da, which combines with the article.
a sinistra — what does it mean?	on the left, to the left Fixed adverbial phrase.
qui — what does it mean?	here Adverb of place. Qua is an equally common variant.
il treno — what does it mean?	the train Masculine noun, plural i treni.
la macchina — what does it mean?	the car Feminine noun, plural le macchine. L'auto is a synonym.
la stazione — what does it mean?	the station Feminine noun, plural le stazioni.
partire — what does it mean?	to leave, to depart Third conjugation. Parto, parti, parte. Takes essere in compound tenses.
l'albergo — what does it mean?	the hotel Masculine noun, plural gli alberghi with an h to keep the hard sound.
la chiave — what does it mean?	the key Feminine noun, plural le chiavi.
l'Italia — what does it mean?	Italy Feminine country name, used with the article in most contexts.
la Francia — what does it mean?	France Feminine country name.
il paese — what does it mean?	the country, also a small village Masculine noun, plural i paesi. Context decides which sense applies.
viaggiare — what does it mean?	to travel First conjugation. The i is kept before endings starting with e.
essere — what does it mean?	to be Highly irregular. Sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono.
avere fame — what does it mean?	to be hungry Fixed expression using avere where English uses to be.
avere freddo — what does it mean?	to be cold, of a person Fixed expression with avere. For the weather use fa freddo.
avere ragione — what does it mean?	to be right Fixed expression with avere. The opposite is avere torto.
parlare — what does it mean?	to speak, to talk Model verb of the first conjugation. Parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano.
guardare — what does it mean?	to watch, to look at Regular first conjugation. It takes a direct object with no preposition.
chiamare — what does it mean?	to call Regular first conjugation. The reflexive chiamarsi means to be called.
amare — what does it mean?	to love Regular first conjugation.
credere — what does it mean?	to believe Model verb of the second conjugation. Credo, credi, crede, crediamo, credete, credono.
chiudere — what does it mean?	to close Second conjugation. The past participle is the irregular chiuso.
servire — what does it mean?	to serve, also to be needed Regular third conjugation. Mi serve means I need.
capire — what does it mean?	to understand Third conjugation with the isc pattern. Capisco, capisci, capisce, capiamo, capite, capiscono.
andare — what does it mean?	to go Irregular. Vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno.
stare — what does it mean?	to stay, to be in a state Irregular. Sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno. Used for health and location.
potere — what does it mean?	can, to be able to Irregular modal. Posso, puoi, può, possiamo, potete, possono. Followed by the infinitive.
il presente — what does it mean?	the present tense Used for current actions, habits and near future plans.
il verbo riflessivo — what does it mean?	the reflexive verb Ends in si in the infinitive and takes a reflexive pronoun.
grande — what does it mean?	big, large, also great Adjective ending in e, so it has one form for both genders. Plural grandi.
giovane — what does it mean?	young Ends in e, so one form for both genders. Plural giovani.
lungo — what does it mean?	long Four forms. The masculine plural is lunghi with an h.
difficile — what does it mean?	difficult Ends in e. Plural difficili.
rosso — what does it mean?	red Four forms: rosso, rossa, rossi, rosse.
verde — what does it mean?	green Ends in e, so one form for both genders. Plural verdi.
sempre — what does it mean?	always Adverb, placed after the verb in simple tenses.
adesso — what does it mean?	now Adverb. Ora is an equally common synonym.
di — what does it mean?	of, from, about Combines with the article: del, dello, della, dei, degli, delle.
con — what does it mean?	with Usually stays separate from the article in modern Italian.
e — what does it mean?	and Becomes ed before a word starting with e.
anche — what does it mean?	also, too Placed directly before the element it refers to.
come — what does it mean?	how, like, as Combines with è to give com'è.
uno — what does it mean?	one Also the indefinite article. It shortens to un before most masculine nouns.
otto — what does it mean?	eight Invariable.
lunedì — what does it mean?	Monday Masculine. Days are not capitalised in Italian. The article makes it habitual.
luglio — what does it mean?	July Masculine. Months are not capitalised and take in or a for dates.
la primavera — what does it mean?	the spring Feminine. Used with in for the season.
oggi — what does it mean?	today Adverb, invariable.
la sera — what does it mean?	the evening Feminine noun, plural le sere.
ciao — what does it mean?	hi, bye Informal greeting used both on meeting and on leaving.
per favore — what does it mean?	please Fixed phrase. Per piacere is an equally common variant.
scusi — what does it mean?	excuse me, formal Formal imperative of scusare. The informal form is scusa.
va bene — what does it mean?	all right, that works Fixed phrase used to agree or to confirm.

Frequently asked

What is on the back of each card?

Two unlabelled parts. The first line gives the English sense, and the second often adds a short grammar or usage note — the gender and plural for nouns, the conjugation or an irregularity for verbs, or a fixed-expression note where relevant. Nouns are always shown with the definite article, so you learn la casa rather than casa.

Do I need to know any Italian to start?

No. The deck starts from the most basic vocabulary and includes the grammar terms you need as cards of their own, such as the present tense, the compound past, the choice between avere and essere, and how reflexive verbs work. It is written for English speakers, so every explanation and example is glossed in English.

How is this different from a word list?

A list gives you a translation pair, which is enough to recognise a word and not enough to produce one. Each card here adds the grammatical information that decides whether your sentence is correct and an example that shows the word in use. That is why the deck is 300 words rather than 3,000: each one is learnt in a usable form.

Can I import the whole deck on the free plan?

Yes. Importing a saved deck runs no new AI generation and does not use your AI allowance, so the free plan imports all 300 cards. You can study, edit and delete them afterwards.

Will importing it twice create duplicates?

No. Cards you already have are skipped and only cards added in a revision come through. Including re-imports after deleting it, one official deck can be imported three times per account.

Can I use it on the web and in the mobile app?

Yes. The deck is added to your account rather than to a device, so the same cards and the same progress are there on the web, on iOS and on Android.

Can I edit the cards after importing?

Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.