The 100 Most Common Ukrainian Words

These are the 100 most common Ukrainian words, ranked by how often they appear in real Ukrainian 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	і	ee	and
2	в	v	in
3	не	neh	not (negation)
4	на	nah	on
5	я	yah	I
6	бути	BOO-tih	be
7	він	veen	he
8	з	z	with
9	що	shchoh	what
10	а	ah	but
11	по	poh	by
12	це	tseh	this
13	вона	voh-NAH	she
14	цей	tsey	this
15	до	doh	to
16	але	ah-LEH	but
17	вони	voh-NIH	they
18	ми	mih	we
19	як	yahk	how
20	який	yah-KIY	which
21	за	zah	behind
22	свій	sveey	own
23	весь	ves'	all
24	рік	reek	year
25	від	veed	from
26	так	tahk	so
27	про	proh	about
28	для	dlyah	for
29	ти	tih	you
30	ж	zh	(emphatic particle)
31	могти	moh-HTIH	can
32	ви	vih	you
33	людина	lyoo-DIH-nah	person
34	такий	tah-KIY	such
35	сказати	skah-ZAH-tih	say
36	тільки	TEEL'-kih	only
37	або	ah-BOH	or
38	ще	shcheh	yet
39	б	b	would
40	себе	seh-BEH	self
41	один	oh-DIHN	one
42	час	chahs	time
43	якщо	yahk-SHCHOH	if
44	наш	nahsh	our
45	дуже	DOO-zheh	very
46	коли	koh-LIH	when
47	знати	ZNAH-tih	know
48	мати	MAH-tih	have
49	день	den'	day
50	добре	DOH-breh	well
51	той	toy	that (one)
52	хто	khtoh	who
53	щоб	shchohb	so that
54	чи	chih	whether (question particle)
55	вже	vzheh	already
56	мій	meey	my
57	ні	nee	no
58	треба	TREH-bah	must (impersonal)
59	де	deh	where
60	там	tahm	there
61	сам	sahm	oneself
62	навіть	NAH-veet'	even
63	інший	EEN-shiy	other
64	великий	veh-LIH-kiy	large
65	тому	toh-MOO	therefore
66	під	peed	under
67	ось	ohs'	here is
68	казати	kah-ZAH-tih	say (imperfective)
69	говорити	hoh-voh-RIH-tih	speak
70	робити	roh-BIH-tih	make
71	життя	zhiht-TYAH	life
72	рука	roo-KAH	hand
73	справа	SPRAH-vah	matter
74	слово	SLOH-voh	word
75	місце	MEES-tseh	place
76	робота	roh-BOH-tah	work
77	хотіти	khoh-TEE-tih	want
78	бачити	BAH-chih-tih	see
79	думати	DOO-mah-tih	think
80	йти	ytih	go
81	тут	toot	here
82	тепер	teh-PER	now
83	зараз	ZAH-rahz	now (right now)
84	потім	POH-teem	afterwards
85	після	PEES-lyah	after
86	без	behz	without
87	при	prih	at (in the presence of)
88	дім	deem	house
89	теж	tezh	also
90	також	tah-KOZH	as well
91	перший	PER-shiy	first
92	новий	noh-VIY	new
93	друг	drooh	friend
94	багато	bah-HAH-toh	many
95	світ	sveet	world
96	місто	MEES-toh	city
97	жити	ZHIH-tih	live
98	два	dvah	two
99	ніщо	nee-SHCHOH	nothing
100	добрий	DOH-briy	good

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

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

Frequently asked questions about Ukrainian words

How many Ukrainian 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 Ukrainian?

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 Ukrainian word list come from?

From published Ukrainian 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.