100 Essential Irish Words

These are 100 essential Irish words, curated for learners: the pronouns, verbs, and everyday nouns that unlock simple sentences. Core-first learning works: a small set of essential words does most of the work in daily speech, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	mé	may	I
2	tú	too	you
3	sé	shay	he
4	sí	shee	she
5	muid	mwij	we
6	siad	SHEE-ahd	they
7	seo	shoh	this
8	sin	shin	that
9	cad	kahd	what
10	cé	kay	who
11	ní	nee	not (negation)
12	agus	AH-guhs	and
13	nó	noh	or
14	ach	ahkh	but
15	i	ih	in
16	le	leh	with
17	ar	er	on
18	as	ahs	from
19	duine	DIN-eh	person
20	uisce	ISH-keh	water
21	lá	law	day
22	bliain	BLEE-in	year
23	am	awm	time
24	teach	chahkh	house
25	obair	OH-bir	work
26	saol	seel	life
27	focal	FOH-kuhl	word
28	bí	bee	be
29	déan	dyayn	do
30	abair	AH-bir	say
31	feic	fek	see
32	téigh	chay	go
33	tar	tahr	come
34	tabhair	TOO-ir	give
35	tóg	tohg	take
36	faigh	fahy	get
37	ith	ih	eat
38	ól	ohl	to drink
39	anois	ah-NISH	now
40	anseo	un-SHOH	here
41	ansin	un-SHIN	there
42	cá	kaw	where
43	fáth	faw	cause
44	gach	gahkh	every
45	mór	mohr	big
46	beag	byug	small
47	maith	mah	good
48	nua	NOO-ah	new
49	ceann	kyown	head
50	dó	doh	two
51	fada	FAH-duh	long (great length/duration)
52	taispeáin	tash-PAWN	to show, display
53	rud	ruhd	thing, object
54	faoi	fwee	under, below
55	é	ay	him, it (object form of he)
56	chuig	khig	to, toward
57	an-	ahn	very (prefix - an-mhaith means very good)
58	féach	FAY-ukh	to look, watch
59	níos mó	nees moh	more, a greater amount
60	smaoinigh	SMWEE-nee	to think
61	féad	fayd	can, to be able to
62	cabhraigh	KOW-ree	to help
63	líne	LEE-neh	line (long thin mark; row)
64	roimh	riv	before, earlier than
65	mo	muh	my (possessive)
66	fuaim	FOO-im	sound, noise
67	céanna	KAY-uh-nuh	same, identical
68	difriúil	DIF-roo-il	different, not the same
69	uimhir	IV-ir	number (numeric quantity)
70	bog	bug	to move; soft
71	thar	har	over, across
72	fios	fiss	knowledge (ta a fhios agam - I know)
73	deas	dyass	right (direction); nice
74	ná	naw	than (comparison)
75	glaoigh	GLEE-ig	to call (summon; phone)
76	céad	kayd	first (an chead - the first)
77	sean	shan	old (aged)
78	freisin	FRESH-in	also, too
79	síos	shees	down, downward
80	taobh	teev	side (left/right side)
81	abairt	AH-birt	sentence (grammatical unit)
82	trí	tree	the number 3
83	aimsigh	AM-shee	to find, locate
84	aon	ayn	any (aon rud - anything)
85	aer	ayr	air (what we breathe)
86	imir	IM-ir	to play (a game)
87	cuid	kwij	part, portion
88	deireadh	JER-uh	end, final part
89	cuir	kir	to put, place
90	áit	awtch	place, location
91	léigh	lay	to read
92	mair	mar	to live (be alive)
93	lámh	lawv	hand (body part)
94	tar éis	tar AYSH	after, following
95	ar ais	er ASH	back (ar ais - back again)
96	talamh	TAH-luv	land, ground
97	amháin	uh-WAWN	only (one only)
98	cruinn	krin	round, circular
99	fear	far	man, adult male
100	caithfidh	KAH-hee	must, to have to

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Curated for learners: Irish has no reliable public frequency corpus, so this list is ordered by usefulness, not by measured frequency. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Irish words

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

Across languages, a small core of words does most of the work in everyday speech: the first few hundred words carry the bulk of simple conversation. You can manage basic 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 Irish?

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, keep growing your core vocabulary and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Irish word list come from?

It is curated for learners rather than corpus-ranked: Irish has no reliable public frequency corpus, so we selected the words that unlock everyday sentences and ordered them by usefulness. These are essential words, not a measured frequency ranking.