The 100 most important Afrikaans words (with translation)

These are the 100 most useful Afrikaans words from our 1000-word beginner course - the vocabulary you will hear and use most often. Learn them first and you will understand a surprising amount of everyday Afrikaans.

← Learn Afrikaans – start with the 1000 most important words

#	Word	Afrikaans
1	the apple	die appel
2	the book	die boek
3	the cat	die kat
4	the dog	die hond
5	the car	die kar
6	the house	die huis
7	the chair	die stoel
8	the table	die tafel
9	the window	die venster
10	the door	die deur
11	the pencil	die potlood
12	the paper	die papier
13	the school	die skool
14	the teacher	die onderwyser
15	the student	die student
16	the boy	die seun
17	the girl	die meisie
18	the adult	die volwassene
19	the friend	die vriend
20	the tree	die boom
21	the flower	die blom
22	the river	die rivier
23	the mountain	die berg
24	the beach	die strand
25	the sun	die son
26	the moon	die maan
27	the star	die ster
28	the cloud	die wolk
29	the rain	die reën
30	the snow	die sneeu
31	the wind	die wind
32	the fire	die vuur
33	the water	die water
34	the food	die kos
35	the drink	die drankie
36	the cup	die koppie
37	the bottle	die bottel
38	the plate	die bord
39	the spoon	die lepel
40	the fork	die vurk
41	the knife	die mes
42	the breakfast	die ontbyt
43	the lunch	die middagete
44	the dinner	die aandete
45	the fruit	die vrugte
46	the vegetable	die groente
47	the bread	die brood
48	the butter	die botter
49	the cheese	die kaas
50	the milk	die melk
51	the coffee	die koffie
52	the tea	die tee
53	the juice	die sap
54	the soda	die koeldrank
55	the chocolate	die sjokolade
56	the candy	die lekkergoed
57	the cookie	die koekie
58	the cake	die koek
59	the rice	die rys
60	the pasta	die pasta
61	the fish	die vis
62	the chicken	die hoender
63	the beef	die beesvleis
64	the egg	die eier
65	the soup	die sop
66	the salad	die slaai
67	the sandwich	die toebroodjie
68	the pizza	die pizza
69	the ice cream	die roomys
70	the cereal	die ontbytgraan
71	the honey	die heuning
72	the sugar	die suiker
73	the salt	die sout
74	the pepper	die peper
75	the tomato	die tamatie
76	the potato	die aartappel
77	the onion	die ui
78	the carrot	die wortel
79	the lettuce	die blaarslaai
80	the cucumber	die komkommer
81	the banana	die piesang
82	the orange	die lemoen
83	the grapefruit	die pomelo
84	the strawberry	die aarbei
85	the grape	die druif
86	the lemon	die suurlemoen
87	the lime	die lemmetjie
88	the cherry	die kersie
89	the watermelon	die waatlemoen
90	the pineapple	die pynappel
91	the mango	die mango
92	the kiwi	die kiwi
93	the peach	die perske
94	the pear	die peer
95	the plum	die pruim
96	the berry	die bessie
97	the melon	die meloen
98	the phone	die foon
99	the computer	die rekenaar
100	the television	die televisie

Frequently asked questions

How many words do I need for everyday conversations in Afrikaans?

The 100 most frequent words cover about half of everyday spoken language. With the full 1000-word core vocabulary you understand around 85% of typical conversations in Afrikaans - enough to follow along and make yourself understood.

Why should I learn exactly these 100 Afrikaans words first?

They are the most frequently used words of the language, selected by word frequency. Every one of them will appear again and again in real sentences, so each learned word immediately pays off.

How can I memorise these Afrikaans words fastest?

Listen and repeat: every word in the 1000 Words course comes with native-speaker audio and an example sentence. Combined with spaced repetition in the free vocabulary trainer, most learners master the first 100 words within one to two weeks.

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