100 Essential Nepali Words

These are 100 essential Nepali 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.

A group of friends learning basic Nepali words together, with the words shown in speech bubbles

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	म	mah	I
2	तिमी	TEE-mee	you
3	ऊ	oo	he
4	हामी	HAH-mee	we
5	उनीहरू	oo-NEE-hah-roo	they
6	यो	yoh	this
7	त्यो	tyoh	that
8	के	keh	what
9	को	koh	of
10	होइन	HOH-ee-nah	no
11	र	rah	and
12	वा	wah	or
13	तर	TAH-rah	but
14	मा	mah	in
15	साथ	sahth	with
16	एक	ek	one
17	दुई	dooy	two
18	ठूलो	THOO-loh	large
19	सानो	SAH-noh	small
20	राम्रो	RAHM-roh	good
21	नयाँ	nah-YAHN	new
22	मानिस	MAH-nees	person
23	पानी	PAH-nee	water
24	दिन	din	day
25	वर्ष	barsh	year
26	समय	SAH-mah-yah	time
27	घर	ghar	house
28	काम	kahm	work
29	जीवन	JEE-vahn	life
30	शब्द	shahbd	word
31	हुनु	HOO-noo	be
32	गर्नु	GAR-noo	do
33	भन्नु	BHAN-noo	say
34	जान्नु	JAHN-noo	know
35	हेर्नु	HEHR-noo	see
36	जानु	JAH-noo	go
37	आउनु	AH-oo-noo	come
38	दिनु	DEE-noo	give
39	लिनु	LEE-noo	take
40	चाहनु	CHAH-hah-noo	want
41	खानु	KHAH-noo	eat
42	पिउनु	PEE-oo-noo	drink
43	अहिले	ah-HEE-leh	now
44	यहाँ	yah-HAHN	here
45	त्यहाँ	tyah-HAHN	there
46	कहाँ	kah-HAHN	where
47	किन	KEE-nah	why
48	सबै	sah-bahy	all
49	धेरै	DHEH-rahy	many
50	आज	ahj	today
51	लामो	LAH-moh	long
52	बनाउनु	bah-NAH-oo-noo	make, build
53	चीज	cheej	thing (object)
54	बढी	BAH-dhee	more (a greater amount)
55	सक्नु	SAHK-noo	can (be able)
56	मेरो	MEH-roh	my
57	आवाज	ah-WAHJ	sound (noise)
58	संख्या	SAHNK-yah	number
59	माथि	MAH-thee	above, over
60	भन्दा	BHAHN-dah	than (comparison)
61	बोलाउनु	boh-LAH-oo-noo	call (summon)
62	पहिलो	pah-HEE-loh	first
63	जनता	jah-nah-TAH	people (the public)
64	तल	TAH-lah	down, below
65	छेउ	CHHEH-oo	side, edge
66	भेट्टाउनु	bhet-TAH-oo-noo	find
67	पाउनु	PAH-oo-noo	get, receive
68	ठाउँ	THAH-oon	place
69	बस्नु	BAHS-noo	live, stay
70	पछि	PAH-chee	after, later
71	फर्किनु	PHAR-kee-noo	return, come back
72	मात्र	MAH-trah	only
73	गोलो	GOH-loh	round (circular)
74	पुरुष	POO-roosh	man (adult male)
75	कुनै	koo-NAHY	any
76	भाग	bhahg	part, portion
77	देखाउनु	deh-KHAH-oo-noo	show
78	सोच्नु	SOHCH-noo	think
79	सोध्नु	SOHDH-noo	ask
80	जवाफ	jah-WAHF	answer, reply
81	सिक्नु	SEEK-noo	learn
82	पढ्नु	PAHDH-noo	read
83	राख्नु	RAHKH-noo	put
84	फेरि	PHEH-ree	again
85	आमा	AH-mah	mother
86	बुबा	BOO-bah	father
87	हात	haht	hand
88	आँखा	AHN-khah	eye
89	टाउको	TAH-oo-koh	head
90	खाना	KHAH-nah	food
91	तीन	teen	three
92	फरक	PHAH-rahk	different
93	पुरानो	poo-RAH-noh	old (of things)
94	अगाडि	ah-GAH-dee	before; in front
95	नजिक	NAH-jeek	near, close to
96	टाढा	TAH-dhah	far
97	दायाँ	DAH-yahn	right (direction)
98	उज्यालो	ooj-YAH-loh	light; brightness
99	कारण	KAH-rahn	cause, reason
100	अर्थ	ahrth	meaning

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Curated for learners: Nepali 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.

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

Nepali belongs to the Indo-European (Indo-Aryan) family - if you enjoy it, a natural next step is Hindi or Bengali.

Useful phrases in Nepali

नमस्ते · na-mas-TE · Hello / Good day
तपाईंलाई कस्तो छ? · ta-paai-LAI KAS-to chha · How are you?
धन्यवाद · dhan-ya-VAD · Thank you
कृपया · KRIP-ya · Please
मेरो नाम... हो · ME-ro nam ... ho · My name is...
... कहाँ छ? · ka-HAA chha · Where is...?
बिदा · bee-DAH · Goodbye
माफ गर्नुहोस् · maaf gar-nu-HOS · Excuse me
मैले बुझिनँ · MAI-le bu-jhee-NA · I don't understand
के तपाईं मलाई मद्दत गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ? · ke ta-PAI ma-LAI MAD-dat garn sak-nu-HUN-chha · Can you help me?
यो कतिको हो? · yo ka-tee-KO ho · How much is it?
भोलि भेटौंला! · BHO-lee bhe-TOWN-la · See you tomorrow!

Frequently asked questions about Nepali words

How many Nepali 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 Nepali?

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 Nepali word list come from?

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