The 100 Most Common Filipino Words

These are the 100 most common Filipino words, ranked by how often they appear in real Filipino text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	ang	ahng	the (definite article)
2	ng	nahng	of
3	sa	sah	at
4	na	nah	that (conjunction)
5	at	aht	and
6	ay	ahy	be
7	ko	koh	my
8	mo	moh	your
9	siya	shah	he / she
10	ako	ah-KOH	I
11	ikaw	ee-KOW	you
12	kami	kah-MEE	we
13	sila	see-LAH	they
14	ito	ee-TOH	this
15	iyon	ee-YOHN	that
16	hindi	heen-DEE	not (negation)
17	may	mahy	have
18	isa	ee-SAH	one
19	tao	TAH-oh	person
20	para	PAH-rah	for
21	mula	moo-LAH	from
22	kung	koong	if
23	ba	bah	(question particle)
24	rin	reen	too
25	pa	pah	still
26	lang	lahng	only
27	kasi	kah-SEE	because
28	taon	tah-OHN	year
29	oras	OH-rahs	time
30	araw	AH-rahw	day
31	mabuti	mah-BOO-tee	good
32	gumawa	goo-mah-WAH	do
33	sabihin	sah-BEE-heen	say
34	pumunta	poo-moon-TAH	go
35	makita	mah-KEE-tah	see
36	malaman	mah-LAH-mahn	know
37	gusto	GOOS-toh	want
38	bago	BAH-goh	new
39	bagay	BAH-gahy	thing
40	marami	mah-RAH-mee	many
41	dalawa	dah-lah-WAH	two
42	una	OO-nah	first
43	saan	sah-AHN	where
44	bakit	BAH-keet	why
45	tapos	TAH-pohs	complete
46	doon	doh-OHN	there
47	trabaho	trah-BAH-hoh	work
48	buhay	BOO-hahy	life
49	ngayon	ngah-YOHN	now
50	iba	ee-BAH	other
51	mga	mah-NGAH	plural marker
52	ano	ah-NOH	what (question word)
53	si	see	personal name marker (si Ana)
54	niya	nee-yah	his / her (genitive of siya)
55	naman	nah-MAHN	on the other hand; also (particle)
56	po	poh	politeness particle
57	nga	ngah	indeed (emphasis particle)
58	kay	kahy	to / for (before a person's name)
59	wala	wah-LAH	there is none; nothing
60	lahat	lah-HAHT	all, everyone
61	dito	DEE-toh	here, in this place
62	pero	PEH-roh	but (contrast)
63	o	oh	or (alternative)
64	dahil	DAH-heel	because
65	kaya	kah-YAH	so, therefore
66	sino	SEE-noh	who (question word)
67	paano	pah-AH-noh	how, in what way
68	kailan	kahy-LAHN	when (question word)
69	kayo	kah-YOH	you (plural)
70	tayo	TAH-yoh	we (inclusive - you and I)
71	daw	dahw	reportedly (hearsay particle)
72	maging	mah-GEENG	to become
73	dapat	DAH-paht	should, must
74	kailangan	kahy-LAHNG-ahn	to need
75	puwede	poo-WEH-deh	can, may
76	talaga	tah-lah-GAH	really, truly
77	muna	MOO-nah	first, for now (particle)
78	sana	SAH-nah	hopefully (optative particle)
79	ulit	oo-LEET	again
80	lagi	LAH-gee	always
81	minsan	MEEN-sahn	sometimes; once
82	habang	HAH-bahng	while, during
83	hanggang	hahng-GAHNG	until, up to
84	tungkol	toong-KOHL	about, concerning
85	gabi	gah-BEE	night
86	umaga	oo-MAH-gah	morning
87	bahay	BAH-hahy	house
88	pamilya	pah-MEEL-yah	family
89	anak	ah-NAHK	child (son or daughter)
90	babae	bah-BAH-eh	woman
91	lalaki	lah-LAH-kee	man, adult male
92	bata	BAH-tah	child; young
93	pera	PEH-rah	money
94	salita	sah-lee-TAH	word (unit of language)
95	wika	WEE-kah	language
96	pangalan	pah-NGAH-lahn	name (what someone is called)
97	malaki	mah-lah-KEE	big
98	maliit	mah-lee-EET	small
99	maganda	mah-gahn-DAH	beautiful, nice
100	masama	mah-sah-MAH	bad

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Filipino corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Filipino words

How many Filipino words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Filipino?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Filipino word list come from?

From published Filipino word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.