100 Essential Kazakh Words

These are 100 essential Kazakh 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	мен	men	I
2	сен	sen	you
3	сіз	seez	you
4	ол	ohl	he
5	біз	beez	we
6	олар	oh-LAR	they
7	бұл	bool	this
8	сол	sohl	that
9	не	neh	what
10	кім	keem	who
11	жоқ	zhohk	to not exist
12	және	zha-NEH	and
13	немесе	neh-meh-SEH	or
14	бірақ	bee-RAHK	but
15	үшін	ew-SHEEN	for
16	бір	beer	one
17	екі	eh-KEE	two
18	үлкен	ewl-KEN	big
19	кіші	kee-SHEE	small
20	жақсы	zhahk-SUH	good
21	жаңа	zhah-NGAH	new
22	адам	ah-DAHM	person
23	су	soo	water
24	күн	kewn	day
25	жыл	zhuhl	year
26	уақыт	wah-KUHT	time
27	үй	ewy	house
28	жұмыс	zhoo-MUHS	work
29	өмір	ur-MEER	life
30	сөз	surz	word
31	болу	boh-LOO	be
32	бар	bar	there is (exists)
33	істеу	ees-TEW	do
34	айту	ahy-TOO	say
35	білу	bee-LOO	know
36	көру	kur-OO	see
37	бару	bah-ROO	go
38	келу	keh-LOO	come
39	беру	beh-ROO	give
40	алу	ah-LOO	take
41	қалау	kah-LOW	want
42	жеу	zhew	eat
43	ішу	ee-SHOO	to drink
44	қазір	kah-ZEER	now
45	мұнда	moon-DAH	here
46	сонда	sohn-DAH	there
47	қайда	kahy-DAH	where
48	неге	neh-GEH	why
49	барлық	bar-LUHK	all
50	көп	kurp	many
51	ұзын	oo-ZUHN	long
52	жасау	zhah-SOW	make, create
53	нәрсе	nar-SEH	thing
54	қарау	kah-ROW	look
55	көбірек	kur-bee-REK	more
56	дыбыс	duh-BUHS	sound
57	ең	eng	most
58	сан	sahn	number
59	үстінде	ews-teen-DEH	over, on top of
60	шақыру	shah-kuh-ROO	call (summon)
61	бірінші	bee-reen-SHEE	first
62	халық	khah-LUHK	people, folk
63	мүмкін	mewm-KEEN	maybe, possible
64	төмен	tur-MEN	down, low
65	жақ	zhahk	side, direction
66	табу	tah-BOO	find
67	ешқандай	esh-kahn-DAHY	(not) any, none
68	бөлік	bur-LEEK	part, portion
69	орын	oh-RUHN	place
70	тұру	too-ROO	live, reside
71	кейін	keh-YEEN	after, later
72	кері	keh-REE	back, backward
73	тек	tek	only
74	дөңгелек	durng-geh-LEK	round, circular
75	еркек	er-KEK	man, adult male
76	көрсету	kur-seh-TOO	show
77	әр	ar	every, each
78	астында	ahs-tuhn-DAH	under, below
79	өте	ur-TEH	very
80	ішінде	ee-sheen-DEH	in, inside
81	сияқты	see-yahk-TUH	like, as
82	ойлау	ohy-LOW	think
83	көмектесу	kur-mek-teh-SOO	help
84	бұрын	boo-RUHN	before, earlier
85	себеп	seh-BEP	cause, reason
86	бірдей	beer-DEY	same, identical
87	оң	ohng	right (direction)
88	ұл	ool	boy, son
89	ескі	es-KEE	old (of things)
90	сөйлеу	suhy-LEW	speak, talk
91	үш	ewsh	three
92	ауа	ah-WAH	air
93	соң	sohng	end
94	қою	koh-YOO	put, place
95	оқу	oh-KOO	read; study
96	қол	kohl	hand
97	тіпті	teep-TEE	even (emphasis)
98	керек	keh-REK	necessary; must
99	биік	bee-EEK	high, tall
100	сұрау	soo-ROW	ask

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Curated for learners: Kazakh 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 Kazakh words

How many Kazakh 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 Kazakh?

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 Kazakh word list come from?

It is curated for learners rather than corpus-ranked: Kazakh 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.