15 Italian words you must know as a beginner: can you guess them? Some may sound familiar to you and others completely new.

Number 14 is a great one to tell your opinion about food. Keep reading to know more!

Basic Italian Words for Beginners

If you are just starting with Italian, here you can find some essential words to help you with your first conversations.

The first three are popular greetings, both formal and informal. Then you’ll see some basic words for being polite, like “please” and “thanks“. The following expressions are for expressing consensus or disagreement. Finally, the last words are very common when talking about the food and the weather (but also in many other situations!).

Without any further ado let’s dive into our list of 15 words (for Italian beginners). 

1. CIAO 

Ciao is one of the most popular Italian greetings so it’s absolutely a must-know!

You’ve probably already heard of it, right? 

It means “hello” when you enter a place, but also “bye” when you leave or end a conversation.

Remember, though, that in Italian there’s a difference between formal and informal speech.

Hence, “ciao” is not appropriate in all situations: it’s perfect when talking with friends, family, or kids, but not if you’re addressing elderly people or strangers.

I have an entire lesson on the most common informal greetings in Italian, if you want to know more.

Going back to ciao: if it’s only for informal conversations, what do you use to greet people in a formal speech?

This leads us to the next word!

2. SALVE

When you are in a more formal context, “ciao” sounds too friendly. So what can you say instead?

“Salve” is the perfect option. It’s totally fine to use it at any time of the day so you can’t go wrong with it.

However, note that you can’t use this greeting when you leave a place, as it only means “hello”.

So what do you use to say goodbye in a formal situation?

That’s our next word and last greeting for today!

3. ARRIVEDERCI

“Arrivederci” is the Italian word for goodbye, but it’s only for formal situations.  

Italians only use it when they talk formally, in a business context, or with people they don’t know. For example, when they’re leaving a shop to say goodbye or to end a phone call with your lawyer or doctor. 

So don’t use this greeting with friends or mates, ’cause it’s pretty odd!

If you want to know more about the formal greetings in Italian, you can check this lesson here.

4. PER FAVORE

Our fourth word, “per favore” means “please“, so you generally say it to ask for something in a polite way. 

Where do you place “per favore” in a sentence? At the start or at the end? It doesn’t matter. The meaning doesn’t change whether this word is at the beginning or at the end of your request. The first option, though, sounds more natural.

Look at the example below:

• Posso avere dell’acqua, per favore? = “Can I have some water, please?“

or

• Per favore, posso avere dell’acqua? = “Please, can I have some water?“

5. SCUSA / SCUSI

The word “scusa” will be very useful in case you need to apologize; it means “sorry” but it’s only for informal situations.

If you want to apologize in a formal speech, you need to say “scusi” instead. 

“Mi scusi” is also formal and means “excuse-me“; you can use it then, for example, to ask for information or directions.

6. GRAZIE

This word is probably one of the first that you learn in any language. “Grazie” means “thank you” or “thanks“.

In one of my previous lesson, you’ve see that “grazie mille” is a very popular one when you want to express even more gratitude. “Molte grazie“ is another common variation.

If you want to use “grazie” in a context, you need to use the preposition “per” plus a noun.  

Let’s look at some common examples:

• Grazie per la telefonata = thanks for the call
• Grazie per l’invito = thanks for the invite
• Grazie per il regalo = thanks for the present

But how do you reply when someone’s thanking you? Keep reading to find it out! 

7. PREGO

Prego is probably the most common way to say “you’re welcome” in Italian (but it’s not the only one).

There are also other words that you can use to respond to a “thank you”, however this is perfect for both formal and informal situations.

So you can stick with this for a while and when you feel ready, try a different one. You can check some alternatives in this lesson here.

8. AIUTO

Hopefully you won’t need to use this word very often, but it’s a good one to know it (just in case!).

“Aiuto” means “help” and it’s not only for emergencies; you can also use it when you need a hand. Below is how you ask somebody for help (informally):

• Ho bisogno di aiuto = I need help

9. Sì

How do you express your consensus? In Italian you say “sì“ that means “yes”. 

For example, if someone asks you: “tutto bene?” (is everything alright?), you can reply “si, grazie!” (yes, thanks!).

10. NO

But you cannot always say yes, I’m afraid. Sometimes you’ll have to turn down someone’s request or maybe you’re not feeling very well that day. So how do you say “no” in Italian?

The good news is you don’t need to learn an extra word! In Italian, you say “no” the same way you say it in English.

In the video lesson below you can find something more about the negative form in Italian: how to turn a positive statement into a negative one, the negation in questions, and the use of the double negatives.

11. VA BENE

You’ve probably heard this expression before: “va bene“. In Italian you can use it in two ways.

The first one is to answer the question “come stai”, which means “how are you?”; if you reply “va bene”, it means that you’re fine.

To learn three common ways to ask “how are you?” in Italian go to this lesson here. 

Alternatively, you can use “va bene” to simply say “okay“.

12. D’ACCORDO

D’accordo is another expression that you can use to agree.

This word is maybe a little bit less common than “va bene” in conversations with friends.

However it’s okay both in formal and informal situations. 

13. PERFETTO 

Perfetto is an adjective and means “perfect”.

However, like “va bene” and “d’accordo”, you can also use it to say that you agree, but with a bit more of excitement. 

Think of it as the expression “great!” in response to a proposal; you say it when you are on the same page!

14. BUONO / BUONA

Do you want to tell your opinion about the food in Italian?

Then you must add this one to your vocabulary!

“Buono” is an adjective that means “nice”/”good” and it’s largely used to talk about food.

When you say that something you’re eating or drinking is “buono”, then you mean that you like it. 

However, in Italian, words have a gender; this means that all the words in a sentence need to have the same gender.

In other words, if you refer to a masculine noun you’ll need to use the masculine form of this adjective which is “buono”; on the contrary in case the name is feminine you’ll have to say “buona”. 

Let’s see an example to clarify.

The noun “caffe’“(coffee) is masculine in Italian, so if you like it, you have to say that it’s buono; while the “pizza” is buona because it’s feminine.

The difference here between masculine and feminine is in the word ending: the adjective gets an -O for a male word and an -A in case of a female noun.

15. BELLO / BELLA

The last word for today is another adjective that also means “nice”, but is not to talk about the food.

You can say “bello” (masculine) or “bella” (feminine) to tell that you like something. Some common examples are when speaking about people/animals, the weather, the clothes or any kind of object.

The same rule of gender applies, as we’ve seen before.

So, for example, the weather is masculine and hence you say that it’s “bello”, while the house is “bella” because it’s feminine.  

Let Recap: 15 Basic Italian Words 

Well done! you’ve just added 15 new Italian words to your vocabulary. Let’s recap them.

1 – CIAO

Ciao means “hello” or “bye” and it’s a very popular greeting. However you can only use it in informal situations.

2 – SALVE

Salve also means “hello“, but in formal situations. You can’t use it to say “goodbye” when you leave or end a conversation.

3 – ARRIVEDERCI

This other greeting, arrivederci, means “goodbye” and it’s pretty formal. So it’s not for saying “bye” to friends.

4 – PER FAVORE

The Italian word for “please” is “per favore“; as you already know, you can use it for asking something politely.

5 – SCUSA / SCUSI

Scusa means “I’m sorry” and it’s only for when you speak informally. In a formal speech, you need to say “scusi” instead. 

6 – GRAZIE

To thank people in Italian you can say “grazie“;  some popular alternatives are: “grazie mille” and “molte grazie“.

7 – PREGO

The most common way to reply to “thanks” is “prego” and it’s okay both in formal and informal situations.

8 – AIUTO

In case you need any help, this is the word to ask for it in Italian, “aiuto“.

9 – SI

“Si” is the Italian word for “yes“.

10 – NO

No is the same as in English; you don’t need to learn an extra word to turn down an offer or request. 

11 – VA BENE

The expression “va bene” can be used in 2 ways: to tell someone that you’re good or to express your consensus. 

12 – D’ACCORDO

Same as “va bene”, “d’accordo” is to agree on something; it’s maybe less common in conversations with your friends.

13 – PERFETTO

“Perfetto” means “perfect” but can also mean “great” when you agree with a plan.

14 – BUONO / BUONA

You can say “buono/a” referring to something that you’re eating or drinking and that you enjoy. 

15 – BELLO / BELLA

Finally, when you speak of people, the weather, clothes, etc. , you can say “bello/a” with the meaning of “nice”.

You can also read:

• GREETINGS IN ITALIAN: WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR?
• HOW TO SAY “THANK YOU” AND “YOU’RE WELCOME” IN ITALIAN

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