Frequency List

500 Most Common
Kannada Words

These 500 words were selected by running statistical analysis on a corpus of Kannada movies, TV shows, and spoken dialogue — not textbooks, not grammar exercises. The words real Kannada speakers actually use, ranked by how often they appear.

Learn these and you'll recognise the core of almost every conversation you hear. The first 100 are shown below. The full deck — with audio in male and female voices, example sentences, and spaced repetition scheduling — is in the web app. No download needed.

# Kannada Transliteration English
1 ನನ್ನ Nanna My, Mine
2 ಆದರೆ Aadare But
3 ನನಗೆ Nanage To me, For me
4 ಇಲ್ಲ Illa No, Not, Nothing
5 ನಿಮ್ಮ Nimma Your (Formal/Respect)
6 ಸರಿ Sari Okay, Right
7 ನಿನ್ನ Ninna Your (Casual/Close)
8 ಹೌದ Houda Is it?, Really?
9 ಈಗ Eega Now
10 ನಮ್ಮ Namma Our
11 ನಿನಗೆ Ninage To you (Casual)
12 ಮತ್ತೆ Matte Again, And then
13 ನಿಮಗೆ Nimagge To you (Formal)
14 ಏನು Enu What
15 ಇಲ್ಲಿ Illi Here
16 ಬಗ್ಗೆ Bagge About
17 ಅವನ Avana His
18 ಅವರ Avara Their, His or Her (Respect)
19 ನಮಗೆ Namage To us
20 ಅದರ Adara Its, Of that
21 ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ Swalpa A little, Just a bit
22 ಅವಳ Avala Her
23 ಓಹ್ Oh Oh! (Expression)
24 ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ Kshamisi Sorry, Excuse me
25 ಗೊತ್ತ? Gotha? Do you know?
26 ಧನ್ಯವಾದ Dhanyavada Thank you
27 ಬನ್ನಿ Banni Come, Please come
28 ನಾವು Naavu We
29 ಅವನಿಗೆ Avanige To him
30 ಕೆಲಸ Kelasa Work, Job
31 ಅದಕ್ಕೆ Adakke For that, That's why
32 ಅವರಿಗೆ Avarige To them, To him (Resp)
33 ಅಲ್ಲಿ Alli There
34 ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ Gothilla Don't know
35 ಅದು Adu That
36 ಆಕೆ Aake She (referring to someone)
37 ಒಬ್ಬ Obba One person, Alone
38 ಸಮಯ Samaya Time
39 ಇದು Idu This
40 ಇದೆ Ide Is, It exists, Have
41 ಎಲ್ಲಿ Elli Where
42 ಪ್ರತಿ Prati Every, Each
43 ದೇವರು Devaru God
44 ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು Dayavittu Please
45 ಬಹಳ Bahala Very, A lot
46 ಬಳಿ Bali Near, With, Possession
47 ಬೇಕು Beku Want, Need
48 ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ Paravagilla It's okay, No problem
49 ಅವಳಿಗೆ Avalige To her
50 ಯಾರು Yaaru Who
51 ಅಲ್ಲ Alla Not, No
52 ತನ್ನ Tanna His own, Her own
53 ಯಾಕೆ Yaake Why
54 ಅಮ್ಮ Amma Mother, Mom
55 ಸಹಾಯ Sahaya Help
56 ಖಂಡಿತ Khandita Definitely, Sure
57 ಅರ್ಥ Artha Meaning, Understand
58 ಸಹೋದರ Sahodara Brother
59 ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು Dhanyavadagalu Thank you (Formal)
60 ಹಾಗೆ Haage Like that, In that way
61 ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ Olleya Good
62 ನೋಡಿ Nodi Look, See
63 ಆಯ್ತು Aaythu Done, Okay, Finished
64 ಹೋಗೋಣ Hogona Let’s go
65 ಆತ Aatha He (referring to a man)
66 ಮಾಡು Maadu Do, Make
67 ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದು Olleyadu It's good, That's fine
68 ಒಳಗೆ Olage Inside
69 ಏಕೆ? Eke? Why?
70 ಅದನ್ನ Adanna That (as an object)
71 ವಿಷಯ Vishaya Matter, Issue, Topic
72 ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸು Nillisu Stop
73 ಅಪ್ಪ Appa Father, Dad
74 ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ kshamisu Forgive me, Sorry
75 ಬರೆಯಿರಿ Bareyiri Write
76 ಶ್ರೀಮಾನ್ Shreeman Mister, Sir
77 ಉತ್ತಮ Uttama Excellent, Best
78 ಅಯ್ಯೋ Ayyo Oh no!, Oops!
79 ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ Hechina More, Additional
80 ನೋಡು Nodu Watch, Look
81 ಆದ್ರೆ Aadre But (Slangy/Short)
82 ಒಮ್ಮೆ Omme Once
83 ಹೌದಾ? Houda? Is it?, Really?
84 ಖಂಡಿತವಾಗಿ Khanditavagi Definitely, For sure
85 ನಾನು ಈಗ Naanu eega I am now...
86 ಹಿಂದೆ Hinde Behind, Back, Ago
87 ಹೇಳು Helu Tell, Say
88 ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ Adaralli In that
89 ಅಥವಾ Athava Or
90 ಆಯಿತು Aayitu Done, Happened
91 ಮಗ Maga Son, Dude (Slang)
92 ದಿನ Dina Day
93 ತಮ್ಮ Thamma Younger brother
94 ತಿಳಿದಿದೆ Tilidide I know, Understood
95 ಜನ Jana People
96 ವರ್ಷಗಳ Varshagala Years
97 ಯಾವುದು? Yavudu? Which?
98 ಗೊತ್ತಿದೆ Gotthide I know
99 ಒಂದು Ondu One
100 ಕಳೆದ Kaleda Lost, Past

Words 101–500

Learn all 500 with spaced repetition.

Seeing a word list is one thing. Having the right words show up exactly when you're about to forget them — with audio in two voices, an example sentence, and transliteration — is another. It's a web app, nothing to download. Try the first three cards free, no account needed.

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Why a frequency list from movies and TV?

Most Kannada vocabulary resources are built from textbooks — which means they teach you formal written Kannada that doesn't match what you actually hear. These 500 words come from a corpus of Kannada films and spoken dialogue, so they reflect real, modern, colloquial speech.

If your goal is to understand Kannada movies, TV shows, and conversations — this is the vocabulary that gets you there. Pair it with a comprehensible input path and the progress compounds fast.