101 Spanish nouns you should learn to get started

The most important Spanish nouns to learn may differ based on your needs as a Spanish language learner. An IT engineer working with Latin American teams will need to learn different Spanish nouns than a liberal arts student studying abroad.

Beginner classes often emphasize phrases like, ¿Dónde está la biblioteca? (Where is the library?). But most adult learners will never ask this question out loud, because we have smartphones to direct us. We wanted to break the tradition of learning useless words and phrases, so we’ve compiled the most common and useful Spanish noun list possible.

So, what are the most common Spanish nouns? To find out, we ran a textual analysis of four short stories and four news articles in Spanish. We then grouped the most-mentioned Spanish nouns into the following categories: 

• A quick note about the gender of Spanish nouns
• Places
• People
• Transport
• Animals
• Goods and materials
• Time
• Technology
• Food
• Life and events
• The body
• Clothing
• The household
• Communication

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A quick note about the gender of Spanish nouns

Before we jump right in, remember that nouns in Spanish have a gender. That’s right: la mesa (the table) is feminine while el baño (the toilet) is masculine. Masculine nouns in Spanish have the definite article el’ and usually end in the letter “o,” as in el baño. Feminine nouns in Spanish have the article la and usually end in the letter “a,” as in la mesa.

Places

1. la casa – the house
2. el restaurante – the restaurant
3. el apartamento – the apartment
4. el lago – the lake
5. el camino – the road
6. el bosque – the forest
7. la plaza – the town square or shopping mall
8. la ciudad – the city
9. el banco – the bank
10. el mercado – the market (this can also refer to a financial market)
11. el estado – the state
12. el país – the country

People

13. la mujer – the woman
14. el hombre – the man
15. la hermana/el hermano – the sister/the brother
16. la madre – the mother
17. el padre – the father
18. el señor/la señora – the sir/the madam; when capitalized, el Señor is the Christian word for “the Lord”
19. la familia – the family
20. el grupo – the group
21. el candidato – the candidate
22. la guardia – the guard
23. el caballero – the gentleman
24. la dama – the lady
25. la persona – the person
26. el conductor – the driver
27. el amigo/la amiga – the friend (masculine/feminine)

Transport

28. el camión – the truck or bus* (only for Mexico)
29. el autobús – the bus
30. el coche/el carro/el auto – the car (depending on the country)
31. la bicicleta – the bicycle
32. el cargamento – the cargo
33. el equipaje – the luggage

Animals

34. la criatura – the creature
35. el animal – the animal
36. el perro – the dog
37. el gato – the cat

Goods and materials

38. la madera – the wood
39. el oro – the gold
40. la gasolina – the gasoline

Time

41. el año – the year
42. el mes – the month
43. el día – the day
44. el momento – the moment

Technology

45. la Televisión – the TV
46. el teléfono/móvil/celular – the phone/mobile/cell phone (depending on the country)
47. el número  – the number
48. la foto – the photo
49. las redes sociales – the social media networks

Food

50. la comida/el alimento – the food
51. el agua – the water
52. el frijol – the bean
53. el arroz – the rice
54. la carne – the meat or beef
55. los vegetales – the vegetables
56. las frutas – the fruit

Life and events

57. las noticias – the news
58. las experiencias – the experiences
59. las propuestas – the proposals
60. la pobreza – the poverty
61. el desafío – the challenge
62. la economía – the economy
63. la política – politics
64. la salud – health
65. las elecciones – the elections
66. la pandemia – the pandemic
67. la crisis – the crisis
68. la fuerza – the force/strength
69. la muerte – death
70. la vida – life

The body

71. el pie – the foot
72. la cabeza – the head
73. el brazo – the arm
74. el pecho – the chest
75. el estómago – the stomach
76. la pierna –  the leg
77. la sonrisa – the smile
78. la derecha – the right
79. la izquierda – the left

Clothing

80. la chaqueta – the jacket
81. los pantalones – the pants
82. la camisa – the shirt
83. la ropa interior – the underwear
84. la gorra – the hat
85. los zapatos – the shoes

The household

86. la caja – the box
87. la puerta – the door
88. el baño – the bathroom
89. el cuarto –the  bedroom
90. la cocina – the kitchen
91. la cosa – the thing
92. la parrilla – the grill
93. la mesa – the table
94. el sofá – the sofa/couch
95. la cama – the bed
96. el garaje – the garage

Communication

97. la información – the information
98. la pregunta – the question
99. la carta – the letter
100. el correo electrónico – the email
101. el mensaje – the message

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Spanish nouns for daily life

You’ll likely need these Spanish nouns to get around in your daily life, and especially when holding a conversation on current events. A textual analysis of typical Spanish writing indicates that these Spanish nouns are among the most common. No more obscure words taking up space in your memory — just useful terms you can try using today. What are you waiting for? Learn these 101 nouns in Spanish to jump-start your vocabulary!

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