The 100 Most Common Slovak Words

These are the 100 most common Slovak words, ranked by how often they appear in real Slovak 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	a	ah	and
2	byť	bit'	be
3	ten	ten	this
4	v	v	in
5	on	ohn	he
6	mať	mat'	have
7	že	zheh	that (conjunction)
8	s	s	with
9	z	z	from
10	ktorý	KTOH-ree	which
11	na	nah	on
12	do	doh	to
13	i	ee	also
14	ale	AH-leh	but
15	sa	sah	self
16	čo	choh	what
17	ako	AH-koh	how
18	po	poh	after
19	tak	tahk	so
20	môcť	mwohts'	can
21	rok	rohk	year
22	o	oh	about
23	k	k	toward
24	človek	CHLOH-vek	person
25	keď	ked'	when
26	len	len	only
27	už	oozh	already
28	čas	chahs	time
29	deň	dyen'	day
30	chcieť	khtsyet'	want
31	vedieť	VEH-dyet'	know
32	povedať	POH-veh-dat'	say
33	veľký	VEL'-kee	large
34	nový	NOH-vee	new
35	dobrý	DOH-bree	good
36	dva	dvah	two
37	iný	EE-nee	other
38	musieť	MOO-syet'	must
39	vidieť	VEE-dyet'	see
40	prvý	PUR-vee	first
41	celý	TSEH-lee	whole
42	my	mih	we
43	ty	tih	you
44	svoj	svoy	own
45	tiež	tyezh	too
46	ešte	ESH-tyeh	still
47	kde	gdeh	where
48	ísť	eest'	go
49	dať	dat'	give
50	práca	PRAH-tsah	work
51	pre	preh	for
52	však	fshahk	however
53	za	zah	behind
54	od	oht	from (away from)
55	tento	TEN-toh	this (specific)
56	aby	AH-bih	so that
57	alebo	AH-leh-boh	or
58	kto	ktoh	who
59	pred	pret	before
60	medzi	MEH-dzih	between
61	pod	poht	under
62	nad	naht	above
63	pri	prih	at (during)
64	bez	behs	without
65	u	oo	at (someone's place)
66	sám	sahm	oneself
67	každý	KAHZH-dee	each
68	taký	TAH-kee	such
69	všetko	FSHET-koh	everything
70	hovoriť	HOH-voh-rit'	speak
71	myslieť	MIS-lyet'	think
72	dostať	DOHS-tat'	get
73	prísť	preest'	come
74	žiť	zhit'	live
75	tu	too	here
76	tam	tahm	there
77	teraz	TEH-rahs	now
78	potom	POH-tohm	then
79	dnes	dnes	today
80	veľmi	VEL'-mih	very
81	veľa	VEL'-ah	a lot
82	možno	MOHZH-noh	maybe
83	ani	AH-nih	not even
84	nič	nyich	nothing
85	niečo	NYEH-choh	something
86	druhý	DROO-hee	second
87	tri	trih	three
88	posledný	POHS-led-nee	last
89	život	ZHIH-voht	life
90	svet	svet	world
91	miesto	MYES-toh	place
92	slovo	SLOH-voh	word
93	vec	vets	thing
94	doba	DOH-bah	time (period)
95	dom	dohm	house
96	ruka	ROO-kah	hand
97	žena	ZHEH-nah	woman
98	krajina	KRAH-yih-nah	country
99	mesto	MES-toh	city
100	dieťa	DYEH-tyah	child

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

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

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

Frequently asked questions about Slovak words

How many Slovak 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 Slovak?

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 Slovak word list come from?

From published Slovak 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.