The 86 most common Italian verbs

These are the 86 verbs among the 500 most common Italian words, in the order a corpus of everyday writing says you will meet them.

Meanings are given in English on this page. In the app they appear in your own language, translated on your device.

#WordTypeMeaning
4essereVerbsUsed as a copula. to be
12avereVerbsto have
25potereVerbscan, could; to be able to
36fareVerbsto do
41direVerbsto say, to tell
42dovereVerbsto owe
52volereVerbsto want
53stareVerbsto stay, remain
60vedereVerbsto see
66venireVerbsto come
87andareVerbsto go
109sapereVerbsto know (information)
110leggereVerbsto read
112pensareVerbsto think
116trovareVerbsto find
121prendereVerbsto take, hold, pick up, get
126siamoVerbsfirst-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
130parlareVerbsto talk, to speak
134mettereVerbsto put, to place, to lay, to set
135capireVerbsto understand
136dareVerbsto give
140abbiamoVerbsfirst-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
141credereVerbsto believe
156chiedereVerbsto ask (for)
176sembraVerbsthird-person singular present indicative
179riuscireVerbsto manage; to be able
185arrivareVerbsto arrive, to come, to reach
198vivereVerbsto live; to be alive
202sentireVerbsto feel
213portareVerbsto bring, fetch, take, carry
215iniziareVerbsto begin, to set about
216ideaVerbsthird-person singular present indicative
217giocareVerbsto play a game, for fun or as a pastime
219perdereVerbsto lose
231seguireVerbsto follow, to pursue
233cercareVerbsto look for
238chiamareVerbsto call
240conoscereVerbsto know (a person or place), to meet (a person)
243rimanereVerbsto stay
246tenereVerbsto hold
247lasciareVerbsto leave (to leave something behind)
258rendereVerbsto give back, to return
260abbiaVerbsfirst/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
281scrivereVerbsto write
283diventareVerbsto become (rich, dry, a doctor, etc.), to go
284finireVerbsto finish
287importareVerbsto be important, to matter
289uscireVerbsto go out, leave, exit
298pubblicareVerbsto publish
301sianoVerbsthird-person plural present subjunctive
307tornareVerbsto return, to come back
319faiVerbssecond-person singular present
322esistereVerbsto exist, to be
326cambiareVerbsto exchange
338permettereVerbsto allow, to let, to permit, to authorize, to entitle
339consigliareVerbsto advise, to counsel (someone)
345sperareVerbsto hope
352decidereVerbsto decide (on), to fix, to arrange, to determine
357passareVerbsto pass (all senses)
360progettareVerbsto plan, make plans for
361rispondereVerbsto answer, to reply, to respond [with a ‘to’]
363aprireVerbsto open
366lavorareVerbsto work; to labor
368vincereVerbsto win
377creareVerbsto create
380usareVerbsto use
381ricevereVerbsto receive, get, have, be given, take
383ottenereVerbsto obtain, to achieve, to gain (something desired)
399produrreVerbsto produce, yield, bear, generate
416morireVerbsto die
417entrareVerbsto enter, to go in
424guardareVerbsto look at, to watch, to glance or gaze at
430fattiVerbscompound of fa'
432parlaVerbsthird-person singular present indicative
434sembrareVerbsto seem, to look (like), to appear
453aprileVerbscompound of apri
455trovaVerbsthird-person singular present indicative
458utilizzareVerbsto use, make use of, utilize
459partireVerbsto depart; to leave; to set forth
464continuareVerbsto continue, to keep on doing (an action)
474staiVerbssecond-person singular present indicative
479raggiungereVerbsto reach, arrive at, get to, touch
481pagareVerbsto pay (money, a bill, the rent, etc.)
482viaggiareVerbsto travel, to journey
492aggiungereVerbsto add, to append
499considerareVerbsto consider, to examine, to weigh, to contemplate

All 500 A1 words are on this page, free, with no sign-up.

The rest of the list

  • A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsaspettare · autore · spazio · abbastanza · possibilità
  • B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordscattivo · nave · capello · dettaglio · ampio
  • B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordstavola · causare · esistenza · chimico · agente

A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, in the app, where you can also send any word straight into spaced review and meet it again on the day you are about to forget it.

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Where this comes from

The order is measured: it comes from how often each word appears in a large corpus, counted across all the forms of a word rather than each form separately, so a verb is ranked where you really meet it. The band edges are a convention rather than a measurement. Nothing says word 501 is harder than word 500; the levels are cut where established graded reader series cut theirs.

wordfreq 3.1 (frequency order) + en.wiktionary via kaikki.org (part of speech, gender, gloss). Corpus read on 2026-09-16.

Questions

Where does the order come from?

From how often each word appears in a large corpus of everyday writing. Frequency is counted across all the forms of a word and attributed to the dictionary form, so a verb is ranked where a reader really meets it rather than being spread thinly over a dozen endings.

Why are these lists shorter than the ones with 5,000 or 10,000 words?

Because past about 2,500 a frequency rank stops meaning much. Rank 6,000 in a web corpus is not a harder word, it is a word that happens to be common in journalism. Established graded reader series top out near 2,500 headwords for the same reason.

Is every word in the list a real dictionary word?

Yes. Every headword is checked against the language's own Wiktionary entry, which is where the part of speech, the gender and the meaning come from. That check is what removes the proper nouns, single letters and corpus noise that raw frequency lists are full of.

Do I need the app?

Not for this page. The A1 list is free here and free in the app. A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, and the app is also where a word can go from a list into a review queue, which is the part a page cannot do.

Has a native speaker checked these?

Not yet. The frequency order and the part of speech are mechanical, and the meanings come from a dictionary rather than being written by hand, but nothing here has been through native review. If you spot a meaning that is technically right and practically useless, we would like to hear about it.