Lance Perry

Your First 625 Words (in Thematic Order, with notes):

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Key:

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Category words (i.e. ‘animal’) are designated with a little superscript C (Like thisC). Learn these words word by using 2-3 other pictures/words on your flashcards (i.e. ‘animal = dog, cat, fish…’).

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Easily Confounded Images (i.e., ‘girl’ looks like ‘daughter’) are designated with an asterisk (Like this*). These are groups of words that will use very similar images (girl/daughter, marriage/wedding). Learn these words by adding a personal touch (i.e., the name of a ‘daughter’ you might know) or an additional word or two in your target language (i.e., daughter might go with mother/father).

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Animal: dog, cat, fish, bird, cow, pig, mouse, horse, wing, animalC

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Transportation: train, plane, car, truck, bicycle, bus, boat, ship, tire, gasoline, engine, (train) ticket, transportationC

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Location: city, house, apartment, street/road, airport, train station, bridge, hotel, restaurant, farm, court, school, office, room, town, university, club, bar, park, camp, store/shop, theater, library, hospital, church, market, country (USA, France, etc.), building, ground, space (outer space), bank, locationC

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Clothing: hat, dress, suit, skirt, shirt, T-shirt, pants, shoes, pocket, coat, stain, clothingC

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Color: red, green, blue (light/dark), yellow, brown, pink, orange, black, white, gray, colorC

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People: son*, daughter*, mother, father, parent (= mother/father), baby, man, woman, brother*, sister*, family, grandfather, grandmother, husband*, wife*, king, queen, president, neighbor, boy, girl, child (= boy/girl), adult (= man/woman), human (≠ animal), friend (Add a friend’s name), victim, player, fan, crowd, personC

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Job: Teacher, student, lawyer, doctor, patient, waiter, secretary, priest, police, army, soldier, artist, author, manager, reporter, actor, jobC

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Society: religion, heaven, hell, death, medicine, money, dollar, bill, marriage*, wedding*, team, race (ethnicity), sex (the act), sex (gender), murder, prison, technology, energy, war, peace, attack, election, magazine, newspaper, poison, gun, sport, race (sport), exercise, ball, game, price, contract, drug, sign, science, God

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Art: band, song, instrument (musical), music, movie, art

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Beverages: coffee, tea, wine, beer, juice, water, milk, beverageC

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Food: egg, cheese, bread, soup, cake, chicken, pork, beef, apple, banana, orange, lemon, corn, rice, oil, seed, knife, spoon, fork, plate, cup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sugar, salt, bottle, foodC

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Home: table, chair, bed, dream, window, door, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, pencil, pen, photograph, soap, book, page, key, paint, letter, note, wall, paper, floor, ceiling, roof, pool, lock, telephone, garden, yard, needle, bag, box, gift, card, ring, tool

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Electronics: clock, lamp, fan, cell phone, network, computer, program (computer), laptop, screen, camera, television, radio

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Body: head, neck, face, beard, hair, eye, mouth*, lip*, nose, tooth, ear, tear (drop), tongue, back, toe, finger, foot, hand, leg, arm, shoulder, heart, blood, brain, knee, sweat, disease, bone, voice, skin, body

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Nature: sea*, ocean*, river, mountain, rain, snow, tree, sun, moon, world, Earth, forest, sky, plant, wind, soil/earth, flower, valley, root, lake, star, grass, leaf, air, sand, beach, wave, fire, ice, island, hill, heat, natureC

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Materials: glass, metal, plastic, wood, stone, diamond, clay, dust, gold, copper, silver, materialC

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Math/Measurements: meter, centimeter, kilogram, inch, foot, pound, half, circle, square, temperature, date, weight, edge, corner

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Misc Nouns: map, dot, consonant, vowel, light, sound, yes, no, piece, pain, injury, hole, image, pattern, nounC, verbC, adjectiveC 

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Note: Use these last three (noun, verb, adjective) as labels to help distinguish between very similar-looking words (i.e., to die (verb), death (noun), dead (adjective))

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Directions: top, bottom, side, front, back, outside, inside, up, down, left, right, straight, north, south, east, west, directionC

Note: You may not find all of these in your glossary, and you may have trouble finding pictures even if you do. That’s fine. Skip them for now, or use my collection of images for directions and prepositions at Fluent-Forever.com/Appendix5

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Seasons: Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall, seasonC

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Numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 50, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 90, 91, 92, 100, 101, 102, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 10000, 100000, million, billion, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, numberC

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Note: If you search for a number (uno (one), dos (two), tres (three)), you’ll find pictures of objects (1 apple, 2 monkeys, etc.). This usually works until 10. Then search for the digits (10, 11, 12). You’ll find colorful numerals, address signs, etc. Use these images (picture of hotel room #33) instead of text (#33); these pictures easier to remember and they don’t get mixed up as easily.

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Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

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Note: You’ll usually find pictures of holidays and weather. Add in the number of each month (#1-12) to get more specific.

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Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

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Note: You’ll usually find pictures of people going to work on Mondays and partying on Fridays/Saturdays, etc. To get more specific, use an image of a weekly calendar with weekends greyed out and indicate which day you want. I’ll find a few good calendars to use and post them here in the near future.

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Time: year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second , morning, afternoon, evening, night, timeC

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Note: You’ll find pictures of clocks and calendars. If needed, define each time division in terms of another time division, i.e. 60 x minuto = 1 ___ (ora), 1 ora = 60 x ____ (minuto). Don’t worry about plural forms (you don’t need the word for “minutes” yet)

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Verbs: work, play, walk, run, drive, fly, swim, goC, stop, follow, think, speak/say, eat, drink, kill, die, smile, laugh, cry, buy*, pay*, sell*, shoot(a gun), learn, jump, smell, hear* (a sound), listen* (music), taste, touch, see (a bird), watch (TV), kiss, burn, melt, dig, explode, sit, stand, love, pass by, cut, fight, lie down, dance, sleep, wake up, sing, count, marry, pray, win, lose, mix/stir, bend, wash, cook, open, close, write, call, turn, build, teach, grow, draw, feed, catch, throw, clean, find, fall, push, pull, carry, break, wear, hang, shake, sign, beat, lift

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Note: For verbs, you’ll probably need to learn your language’s word for “verb” and add it to any verb that could masquerade as a noun (to kiss vs a kiss). Basically, get a picture of two people kissing, add the word “Verb” underneath, and poof, you’ve got a pretty clear “to kiss.”

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Adjectives: long, short (long), tall, short (vs tall), wide, narrow, big/large, small/little, slow, fast, hot, cold, warm, cool, new, old (new), young, old (young), good, bad, wet, dry, sick, healthy, loud, quiet, happy, sad, beautiful, ugly, deaf, blind, nice, mean, rich, poor, thick, thin, expensive, cheap, flat, curved, male, female, tight, loose, high, low, soft, hard, deep, shallow, clean, dirty, strong, weak, dead, alive, heavy, light (heavy), dark, light (dark), nuclear, famous

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Note: For a few of these adjectives, you may need to learn your language’s word for “adjective” and add it in cases of ambiguity (i.e., to clean vs a clean room).

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Pronouns: I, you (singular), he, she, it, we, you (plural, as in “y’all”), they.

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Note: Make sure you read about these in your grammar book before adding them. Languages divide their pronouns into many categories. Hungarian, for instance, has six words for “you” (singular informal, singular formal (for acquaintances), singular official (for teachers, policemen, bureaucrats), plural informal, etc.), and depending upon how you count, Japanese either has no pronouns or tons of pronouns. We’ll need to have some pronouns now in order to deal with grammar later, so you’ll want to find at least a few words to refer to yourself or someone else.

 

You’ll find a good explanation of pronouns (and a list of them) in the beginning of your grammar book. Note that you don’t yet need him, her, his, their, etc. We’ll get them later, when we discuss grammar.

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How do you learn these without translations? Use pictures of people pointing at themselves/each other. There are decent pronoun pictures on Google Images, and I’ve gotten some better ones commissioned here. Use these images, and if your language, like Hungarian, has different sorts of pronouns for different sorts of relationships (i.e., friends vs acquaintances), then take a few minutes to think of some people you’d use these pronouns with. Use their names on your flashcards.