Vocabulary or Grammar: Which Is More Important to Learn First?

You need both, but not in equal amounts at every stage. Vocabulary gives beginners the fastest results: even a small set of common words lets you ask for things and understand simple answers. Grammar turns those words into clear sentences. The best approach is to learn each new word together with the grammar and context that make it usable.

A common question that most language learners eventually ask is a version of this one: "Which is more important, grammar or vocabulary?" Here is how I answer it, and what has worked for me.

Which is more important, vocabulary or grammar?

Vocabulary is the words of a language. Grammar is the set of patterns that tells you how those words change and combine into sentences. If you could only have one, vocabulary would carry you further. As the linguist David Wilkins put it in 1972, "without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed."

But the honest answer is that it depends on your needs. Early on, you need basic words and phrases like "Hello," "Goodbye" and "Thank you." It's possible to say just "Name?" or "Phone number?" and still get an answer. Eventually, though, you'll want to go beyond two- or three-word expressions, or you'll be stuck at the level of what a native two- or three-year-old child can express.

You can also string one word after another in a kind of word soup, and listeners may follow you for a while. But most people find that type of communication hard to understand for long. That's where grammar comes in.

Should you learn vocabulary or grammar first?

Best for: beginners deciding where to put their first hours.

Start with vocabulary, and add grammar as soon as you have words to apply it to. A better question than "which one?" is, in my opinion: "What should I focus on right now, grammar or vocabulary?" That question lets you switch between the two as you need to.

There are times when it's better to simply study words. If you're learning Spanish, for example, begin with the words you'll meet most often: The 100 Most Common Spanish Words with Pronunciation. There are also times when it's better to study structures, such as how to ask a question, talk about the past or make a verb negative. Ultimately, you need to put the two side by side, because they work best together.

What does it mean to know a word?

An expression that I personally have found helpful is "word knowledge." Look at any dictionary or phrasebook entry, and you'll see that each word comes with information about both its meaning and its usage. Knowing a word well means knowing much more than its translation.

The researcher Paul Nation (2001) describes word knowledge in three parts:

• Form: how the word sounds, how it's spelled and which parts it's made of.
• Meaning: what it refers to and which other words and ideas it connects to.
• Use: its grammar, the words it usually goes with and when it's appropriate to use it.

The third part is where vocabulary and grammar meet. You also tend to recognize a word long before you can use it yourself, a gap we explain in our guide to receptive and productive skills.

How are vocabulary and grammar connected?

Many words carry their own grammar with them. In English, you "depend on" something, not "depend of" it. You "make a mistake," but you "do your homework." "Advice" has no plural, so you ask for "some advice," not "an advice." None of this is in the word's translation, but all of it decides whether your sentence sounds right.

That's why some teachers see the two as one system. The lexical approach, described by Michael Lewis in 1993, argues that "language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar." In plain words: learn words in the chunks they naturally appear in, and much of the grammar comes with them.

How do you learn vocabulary and grammar together?

Best for: learners who know plenty of words but struggle to build sentences.

Knowing how a word is used with other words in a meaningful sentence will do more for you than knowing the word alone. These five habits help:

1. Learn words in phrases. Save "make a decision," not just "decision."
2. Note the grammar on the card. Add the gender, the plural, the past form or the preposition the word needs.
3. Memorize whole example sentences. A sentence gives you a ready-made pattern you can reuse.
4. Swap one word. Take a sentence you know and change one word to make a new one.
5. Use it. Say or write your own sentence with the new word the same day.

That's why Lingocard has both individual words and whole sentences. Next to the word decks, you'll find ready-made decks of sentences, phrases and idioms. In our free flashcards app, every card is read aloud, so each word comes with its sound and the context that makes it usable in real sentences. For more techniques, see our guide on how to improve your vocabulary.

How can teachers apply this?

Best for: teachers planning lessons or a course.

The same principle works in the classroom. Pair every new word with the grammar and context that make it usable, and introduce patterns once students have the words to fill them. Planning this in the right order is what lets you create a structured curriculum that builds word knowledge step by step, instead of teaching words in isolation.

The bottom line: learn words and grammar together

Focus on learning language both as individual building blocks and as pieces you can put together in flexible ways:

• Start with the most common words and phrases.
• Learn each word with its form, meaning and use.
• Add grammar patterns as soon as you have words to fill them.
• Practice building your own sentences every day.

Your ability to use your words will grow as you practice and deepen your feel for how vocabulary and grammar work together. Whether you want to learn English online or any other language, you'll find word decks, sentence decks and spaced repetition on the Lingocard platform.