How many words for each level
How many Italian words do you already know? The free test shows your vocabulary size and CEFR level in 3 minutes.
Take the test →| Level | Words | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | up to 1,500 | Introduce yourself, order a caffè and a cornetto, ask for prices and directions. |
| A2 | 1,500–2,500 | Book a room, talk about your week and your family, follow simple announcements at the station. |
| B1 | 2,750–3,250 | Handle most travel situations, explain a problem to a landlord, follow the gist of the news on RAI. |
| B2 | 3,250–3,750 | Discuss work and current affairs, read articles in la Repubblica with few look-ups. |
| C1 | 3,750–4,500 | Follow films and podcasts without subtitles, write formal emails and reports. |
The ranges come from Milton and Alexiou (2009), who measured learners of other European languages; we found no comparable study for Italian, so treat them as a guide. They estimate receptive vocabulary: words you recognise, not words you produce. All levels in one table: how many words you need for A1–C1.
How much of a text the most common words cover
Tullio De Mauro’s Nuovo vocabolario di base (2016), built on a corpus of 18.8 million words, splits Italian into layers. About 2,000 fundamental words cover 86% of word occurrences in texts and speech, and a further 3,000 high-use words add another 6%, so roughly 5,000 words cover about 92%. To read comfortably without a dictionary you need more: in general research about 98% coverage, which takes 8,000–9,000 word families.
Start with these words
These words appear in almost every Italian sentence. Learn them with their forms and a short example, and every text you read will start to make sense faster.
- essere to be
- avere to have
- fare to do, to make
- andare to go
- dire to say
- potere can, to be able
- volere to want
- sapere to know
- che that, what
- chi who
- come how, like
- dove where
- quando when
- perché why, because
- ma but
- anche also, too
- oggi today
- domani tomorrow
- ieri yesterday
- adesso now
- sempre always
- il giorno day
- la settimana week
- l’anno year
- la persona person
- l’amico friend
- la famiglia family
- la casa house, home
- la città city, town
- il paese country, village
- il lavoro work, job
- la scuola school
What makes Italian vocabulary easier or harder
Words from Latin often match English with a regular change of ending: -tion becomes -zione, so nation is nazione and information is informazione. Learn the patterns and hundreds of words come almost free.
Some familiar-looking words mean something else: camera is a room, parenti are relatives, not parents, and libreria is a bookshop. Learn them early with an example so they don’t trip you up in conversation.
Every noun is masculine or feminine and the article changes with the next sound: il libro, lo studente, l’amica, gli amici. Always learn a noun with its article, not alone.
One verb has dozens of forms (parlo, parli, parliamo, parlavo, parlerò), so recognising them is part of knowing the word. Spelling is close to pronunciation, but watch double consonants: pala (shovel) and palla (ball) are different words.
Which topics to learn at each level
- A1. greetings, numbers, family, food and drinks, the café and the shop, days and times. Learn whole phrases like vorrei un caffè.
- A2. home, daily routine, transport, weather, shopping, health basics, past events. Add the forms of the past tense you meet most.
- B1. work, travel problems, housing and contracts, feelings and opinions, the news. This is the CILS B1 level asked for Italian citizenship.
- B2. society, environment, technology, culture, politics. Learn the linkers of argument: tuttavia, quindi, infatti.
- C1. idioms, formal and bureaucratic style, specialised vocabulary for your field, regional words you hear in films.
Type a topic or a level into the generation chat in the app, for example “B1: work and career”, and get a word set with examples in context, audio and smart reviews. Any other topic works too.
How long it takes
At 10 new words a day with regular reviews you learn about 300 words a month, about 3,600 a year: enough for B1 and close to B2. At 20 a day you halve that, if you keep up the reviews. The U.S. Foreign Service Institute puts Italian in its easiest group for English speakers, 24–30 weeks of full-time study (600–750 class hours) to professional level. Real life is slower than an intensive course, so a year of daily practice to a solid B1 is a realistic plan.
How NewLexi helps you build your vocabulary
In NewLexi you generate word sets by level or by topic in the chat, for example “A2: at the train station”, and they arrive already split into categories. Every word comes in context with audio, and spaced repetition brings it back right before you would forget it. Stories and dialogues are written for you, at your level and with your words, so you meet them again in real Italian. You can import words from a photo, a text, Anki or Quizlet, and the free vocabulary test shows where you are in 3 minutes.
