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.
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| # | Word | Afrikaans |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the food | die kos |
| 2 | the drink | die drankie |
| 3 | the cup | die koppie |
| 4 | the bottle | die bottel |
| 5 | the plate | die bord |
| 6 | the spoon | die lepel |
| 7 | the fork | die vurk |
| 8 | the knife | die mes |
| 9 | the breakfast | die ontbyt |
| 10 | the lunch | die middagete |
| 11 | the dinner | die aandete |
| 12 | the bread | die brood |
| 13 | the butter | die botter |
| 14 | the cheese | die kaas |
| 15 | the milk | die melk |
| 16 | the coffee | die koffie |
| 17 | the tea | die tee |
| 18 | the juice | die sap |
| 19 | the soda | die koeldrank |
| 20 | the rice | die rys |
| 21 | the pasta | die pasta |
| 22 | the fish | die vis |
| 23 | the chicken | die hoender |
| 24 | the beef | die beesvleis |
| 25 | the egg | die eier |
| 26 | the soup | die sop |
| 27 | the salad | die slaai |
| 28 | the sandwich | die toebroodjie |
| 29 | the pizza | die pizza |
| 30 | the cereal | die ontbytgraan |
| 31 | the sugar | die suiker |
| 32 | the salt | die sout |
| 33 | the pepper | die peper |
| 34 | the snack | die peuselhappie |
| 35 | the meal | die maaltyd |
| 36 | the restaurant | die restaurant |
| 37 | the cafe | die kafee |
| 38 | the bakery | die bakkery |
| 39 | the cafeteria | die kafeteria |
| 40 | the dough | die deeg |
| 41 | the pan | die pan |
| 42 | the pot | die pot |
| 43 | the bowl | die bak |
| 44 | the meat | die vleis |
| 45 | the flavor | die geur |
| 46 | the toast | die roosterbrood |
| 47 | the yogurt | die jogurt |
| 48 | the spice | die spesery |
| 49 | the teacup | die teekoppie |
| 50 | the lemonade | die limonade |
| 51 | the jar | die fles |
| 52 | the milkshake | die melkskommel |
| 53 | the vinegar | die asyn |
| 54 | the waiter | die kelner |
| 55 | the beer | die bier |
| 56 | the noodle | die noedel |
| 57 | the cork | die kurk |
| 58 | the wine | die wyn |
| 59 | the sausage | die wors |
| 60 | the pitcher | die waterkan |
| 61 | the glass | die glas |
| 62 | the grapefruit juice | die pomelosap |
| 63 | the bill | die rekening |
| 64 | the menu | die spyskaart |
| 65 | the bagel | die bagel |
| 66 | the pancake | die pannekoek |
| 67 | the chocolate | die sjokolade |
| 68 | the candy | die lekkergoed |
| 69 | the cookie | die koekie |
| 70 | the cake | die koek |
| 71 | the ice cream | die roomys |
| 72 | the honey | die heuning |
| 73 | the bubblegum | die kougom |
| 74 | the gummy | die gomlekker |
| 75 | the marshmallow | die marshmallow |
| 76 | the syrup | die stroop |
| 77 | the cocoa | die kakao |
| 78 | the popcorn | die springmielies |
| 79 | the sundae | die sundae |
| 80 | the cotton candy | die spookasem |
| 81 | the custard | die vla |
| 82 | the dessert | die nagereg |
| 83 | the jellybean | die jellieboontjie |
| 84 | the lollipop | die suigstokkie |
| 85 | the jelly | die jellie |
| 86 | the gingerbread | die gemmerbrood |
| 87 | the waffle | die wafel |
| 88 | the pastry | die gebak |
| 89 | the pie | die pastei |
| 90 | the cupcake | die kolwyntjie |
| 91 | the muffin | die muffin |
| 92 | the donut | die doughnut |
| 93 | the biscuit | die koekie |
| 94 | the apple pie | die appeltert |
| 95 | the carrot cake | die wortelkoek |
| 96 | the chocolate cake | die sjokoladekoek |
| 97 | the pumpkin pie | die pampoentert |
| 98 | the apricot jam | die appelkooskonfyt |
| 99 | the jam | die konfyt |
| 100 | the apple | die appel |
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.
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.
Listen and repeat: every word in the 1000 Words course comes with 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.