The 100 Most Common Latvian Words

These are the 100 most common Latvian words, ranked by how often they appear in real Latvian 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	būt	boot	be
2	un	oon	and
3	tas	tahs	it
4	es	es	I
5	viņš	vinsh	he
6	ka	kah	that (conjunction)
7	ar	ar	with
8	no	noh	from
9	uz	ooz	on
10	ne	neh	not (negation)
11	kas	kahs	what
12	par	par	about
13	kā	kah	how
14	bet	bet	but
15	arī	AH-ree	also
16	jau	yow	already
17	vēl	vehl	still
18	tikai	TEE-kahy	only
19	savs	sahvs	own
20	gads	gahds	year
21	laiks	lahyks	time
22	diena	DYEH-nah	day
23	labs	lahbs	good
24	liels	lyels	large
25	mēs	mehs	we
26	tu	too	you
27	viņa	VEE-nyah	she
28	tagad	TAH-gahd	now
29	iet	yet	go
30	redzēt	RED-zeht	see
31	dot	doht	give
32	jauns	yowns	new
33	lieta	LYEH-tah	thing
34	cilvēks	TSIL-vehks	person
35	daudz	dowdz	many
36	divi	DEE-vee	two
37	pirmais	PIR-mahys	first
38	gribēt	GREE-beht	want
39	kur	koor	where
40	jo	yoh	because
41	tad	tahd	then
42	tur	toor	there
43	kopā	KOH-pah	together
44	darbs	darbs	work
45	vai	vahy	or
46	viens	vyens	one
47	dzīve	DZEE-veh	life
48	zināt	ZEE-naht	know
49	teikt	taykt	say
50	varēt	VAH-reht	can
51	šis	shis	this
52	ļoti	LYOH-tee	very
53	cits	tsits	other
54	viss	vis	all
55	kad	kahd	when
56	ja	yah	if
57	vajadzēt	VAH-yahd-zeht	need (must)
58	pēc	pehts	after
59	pie	pyeh	at (by)
60	līdz	leedz	until
61	bez	bez	without
62	starp	starp	between
63	pret	pret	against
64	darīt	DAH-reet	do
65	saņemt	SAH-nyemt	get (receive)
66	nākt	nahkt	come
67	atrast	AH-trahst	find
68	ņemt	nyemt	take
69	sākt	sahkt	begin
70	dzīvot	DZEE-voht	live
71	runāt	ROO-naht	speak
72	strādāt	STRAH-daht	work
73	domāt	DOH-maht	think
74	skatīties	SKAH-tee-tyes	look at
75	meklēt	MEK-leht	look for
76	palikt	PAH-likt	remain
77	kļūt	klyoot	become
78	bērns	behrns	child
79	sieviete	SYEH-vyeh-teh	woman
80	vīrietis	VEE-ryeh-tis	man
81	roka	ROH-kah	hand
82	vieta	VYEH-tah	place
83	pasaule	PAH-sow-leh	world
84	māja	MAH-yah	house
85	valsts	vahlsts	country (state)
86	pilsēta	PIL-seh-tah	city
87	vārds	vahrds	word (name)
88	ceļš	tselysh	road (way)
89	daļa	DAH-lyah	part
90	zeme	ZEH-meh	land (earth)
91	jautājums	YOW-tah-yooms	question
92	nauda	NOW-dah	money
93	kāds	kahds	some (what kind of)
94	nekas	NEH-kahs	nothing
95	šeit	shayt	here
96	kāpēc	KAH-pehts	why
97	vienmēr	VYEN-mehr	always
98	atkal	AHT-kahl	again
99	mazs	mahzs	small
100	vecs	vets	old

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

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

Turn this list into flashcards Learn Latvian online How spaced repetition works

Frequently asked questions about Latvian words

How many Latvian 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 Latvian?

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 Latvian word list come from?

From published Latvian 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.