Basic 100 words

[pazu]

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_10.htm

The hundred most common words

Tony Buzan, in his book 'Using your Memory', points out that just 100 words comprise 50% of all words used in conversation in a language. Learning this core 100 words gets you a long way towards being able to speak in that language, albeit at a basic level. The 100 basic words used in conversation are shown below:

1. A,an 2. After 3. Again 4. All 5. Almost

6. Also 7. Always 8. And 9. Because 10. Before

11. Big 12. But 13. (I) can 14. (I) come 15. Either/or

16. (I) find 17. First 18. For 19. Friend 20. From

21. (I) go 22. Good 23. Good-bye 24. Happy 25. (I) have

26. He 27. Hello 28. Here 29. How 30. I

31. (I) am 32. If 33. In 34. (I) know 35. Last

36. (I) like 37. Little 38. (I) love 39. (I) make 40. Many

41. One 42. More 43. Most 44. Much 45. My

46. New 47. No 48. Not 49. Now 50. Of

51. Often 52. On 53. One 54. Only 55. Or

56. Other 57. Our 58. Out 59. Over 60. People

61. Place 62. Please 63. Same 64. (I) see 65. She

66. So 67. Some 68. Sometimes 69. Still 70. Such

71. (I) tell 72. Thank you 73. That 74. The 75. Their

76. Them 77. Then 78. There is 79. They 80. Thing

81. (I) think 82. This 83. Time 84. To 85. Under

86. Up 87. Us 88. (I) use 89. Very 90. We

91. What 92. When 93. Where 94. Which 95. Who

96. Why 97. With 98. Yes 99. You 100. Your

(Extract reproduced from Use Your Memory by Tony Buzan with the permission of BBC Worldwide Limited, © Tony Buzan)

(two "ONE"?)

[39degN]

"do you speak english? "

i found that we can only find "you" there in the list.

how come the "do" is not a common word(opps, only in english maybe? then how about "speak"? ).

[pazu]

it's list for your reference only, if you think you need to use "do" frequently, do add this in your list too.

[39degN]

haha, you bet it!

[benotnobody]

I suppose, since English is a fairly common language, that if you were speaking to them in English (and they understood you) that question would be unnecessary. But you have a valid point.

[woodcutter]

If you know those 100 words then you can maybe recognize 50 per cent of the words in a text. You won't be able to understand it, or say anything though, and you will certainly not be a long way towards "knowing" a language. Not 1 per cent of the way.

It'd good to learn the easy words first though, that's for sure.

[grasshopper]

Some small phrases might be helpfull to:

"What's the name for that in your language" is a good start to learn another words besides the list you already have.

On a sidenote i'm always surprised that textbooks lack certain word's or short phrases. Things like go away, or no i'm not interested in a art galleries are hard to find in textbooks or travelguides.

But i'm always surprised how helpful people are even if just barely speak their language but at least try. I can have a good laugh when i just said i made your horse pregnant, instead of you look like your mother ;) Mostly the people i meet are making the same mistakes in english so it's fun all the way and a good opportunity to learrn.