The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Galician words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best Galician flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Galician words, like casa, auga, día, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common Galician words · Updated July 2026
| Galician | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| casa | house, home | Vivo nunha casa grande. |
| auga | water | Bebo auga todos os días. |
| día | day | Hoxe é un bo día. |
| home | man | Ese home é o meu pai. |
| muller | woman | A muller traballa nun hospital. |
| neno | child, boy | O neno xoga no parque. |
| tempo | time; weather | Non teño tempo agora. |
| traballo | work, job | Teño moito traballo hoxe. |
| comida | food | A comida está moi boa. |
| libro | book | Estou a ler un libro novo. |
| cidade | city | Vivo nunha cidade pequena. |
| país | country | Quero coñecer outro país. |
| amigo | friend | O meu amigo chámase Xoán. |
| familia | family | A miña familia é grande. |
| escola | school | Os nenos van á escola. |
| coche | car | O coche está aparcado na rúa. |
| rúa | street | Camiñamos pola rúa principal. |
| diñeiro | money | Non teño diñeiro suficiente. |
| mundo | world | Quero viaxar polo mundo. |
| vida | life | A vida é fermosa. |
| ser | to be (permanent) | Quero ser profesor. |
| estar | to be (temporary, location) | Onde estás agora? |
| ter | to have | Teño dous irmáns. |
| facer | to do, to make | Que fas esta tarde? |
| ir | to go | Vou á escola cada mañá. |
| querer | to want; to love | Quero un café, por favor. |
| poder | to be able to, can | Podes axudarme? |
| dicir | to say, to tell | Que queres dicir? |
| ver | to see | Quero ver esa película. |
| saber | to know | Non sei a resposta. |
| falar | to speak, to talk | Falo galego e español. |
| comer | to eat | Imos comer ás dúas. |
| beber | to drink | Quero beber auga fría. |
| vivir | to live | Vivo en Vigo. |
| traballar | to work | Traballo nunha oficina. |
| gustar | to like | Gústame moito a música. |
| chegar | to arrive | O tren chega ás sete. |
| dar | to give | Podes darme o libro? |
| pensar | to think | Penso que tes razón. |
| necesitar | to need | Necesito máis tempo. |
| bo | good | Este pan está moi bo. |
| malo | bad | O tempo hoxe é malo. |
| grande | big, large | A casa é moi grande. |
| pequeno | small | O can é pequeno. |
| novo | new, young | Teño un coche novo. |
| vello | old | O meu avó é vello. |
| bonito | pretty, nice | Este vestido é moi bonito. |
| feliz | happy | Estou moi feliz hoxe. |
| triste | sad | Estou triste hoxe. |
| fácil | easy | Este problema é fácil. |
| e | and | Comín pan e queixo. |
| ou | or | Queres té ou café? |
| pero | but | Quero ir, pero non podo. |
| non | no, not | Non quero máis, grazas. |
| si | yes | Si, estou de acordo. |
| moi | very | Está moi canso. |
| tamén | also, too | Eu tamén quero ir. |
| porque | because | Non veño porque estou enfermo. |
| con | with | Falo con el. |
| para | for, to | Isto é para ti. |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Galician with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Galician. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best Galician books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Galician CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Galician? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Galician words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Galician word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Galician, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Galician text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Galician at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.