Least spoken word english

Modern English is a conglomerate of vocabulary from many different languages and varies widely depending on the country it’s spoken it. Even still, there are a few common words and phrases that English speakers around the globe use on the regular. If you’re learning English, this is a helpful list to refer to for foundational vocabulary.

Words English speakers say all the time

More than 840 million people speak English as their first or second language, which makes it the second most-spoken language in the world after Chinese Mandarin. So if you’re in the process of learning English, don’t fret – many people have successfully done it! And once you learn to speak, you’ll have a world of opportunities and new people you can communicate with.

As with any language, learning English starts with learning the basics: vocabulary. So that you know which ones to prioritise, I’ve broken the most commonly spoken words into different categories.

Pronouns

The majority of sentences in English start with a pronoun to clarify who is the subject. These are:

• I
• you
• he/she/it
• we
• they

To mention something important about “you”: some languages such as German have different words for formal vs informal you (“Sie” for formal and “du” for informal). In English, we only have the word “you” for both situations, but we do distinguish them by using particular words and being more polite.

Common verbs in English

After each subject, then comes a verb. Here are some of the most common verbs in English:

• get
• have
• be
• to
• do
• make
• say
• talk
• walk
• go
• eat
• sleep
• work
• read
• ask
• help
• know
• would
• could
• can
• should
• need
• feel
• become
• leave
• come
• start
• stop

“Get” is infamous for being one of the most flexible words in the whole English language. How you use it depends entirely on the context. To give you a better idea, here are a few examples: 

• Can you please get me a coffee? (Here “get” means either bring or make.)
• I totally get you, that makes sense. (Here “get” means understand.)
• I heard someone knocking. Can you please get the door? (Here “get” means open.)
• He got the gift instead of his sister. (Here “get” means receive.)
• I have to get home now, it’s so late! (Here “get” means go.)

For nearly every circumstance, there are alternative verbs for “get”, but if you want to truly sound like a native English speaker, using “get” is much more commonly used, especially when speaking.

Nouns

Nouns are used to describe a person, place. or thing. A few of the most common English nouns are:

• thing
• people
• woman
• man
• child
• family
• dog
• cat
• door
• window
• table
• chair
• kitchen
• bed
• blanket
• dishes
• towel
• shoes
• socks
• pants
• shirt
• dress
• floor
• food
• drinks
• water

My biggest recommendation for learning English nouns is to make sticky notes around the house for each item. Then each time you look at it, you’re reminded of that word. Because you start learning vocabulary according to your surroundings, they’re more familiar and become easier to memorise.

Another pro tip: if you don’t know the word for a noun when speaking to someone, just refer to it as “thing” and try to describe it. Honestly even native English speakers do this all the time when we’re feeling lazy!

Question words

When you want to transform your sentence into a question, you’ll often begin with a question word. Here is a quick overview of English question words:

• why
• where
• who
• how
• when
• which
• whose
• what

Prepositions in English

Prepositions are another essential element of English grammar, because they are combined with many other words to form phrases. The most common prepositions are:

• to
• in
• out
• for
• with
• on
• since
• at
• until
• by
• as
• about
• into
• between
• against

When I worked as an English teacher, one of the most commonly asked questions about prepositions was the difference between until and by in the context of due dates. Here is an example to clarify:

• The students need to turn in their homework by Monday. (Here we’re only stating the fixed deadline.)
• The students have until Monday to turn in their homework. (Here we’re talking about the total time period up until the deadline.)

English Adjectives

Adjectives are the spices of language and English is no exception. Here are a few of the most commonly used adjectives:

• awesome
• wonderful
• easy
• difficult
• hard
• big
• small
• beautiful
• cool
• new
• old
• pretty
• fantastic

By the way, if you’re speaking with an American, always go for the word “awesome”. I am one myself and we use it constantly (probably too much haha).

Miscellaneous English words

There are some popular, miscellaneous filler words that are important to keep in mind as well:

• like
• and
• but
• so
• well
• too
• just
• more
• this
• that
• because
• very
• even
• quite
• may
• maybe
• another
• few
• here
• there

A quick note on “like”: if you’ve watched American TV series like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, or Family Guy, you’ll notice that they use the word “like” all the time. It’s one of the words that is basically pure slang and has a few different meanings. A few examples are:

• I was talking to my friend and he was like “I had such a bad day yesterday”. (Here “like” is another word for “said” and it’s often used in the context of telling a story of a previous conversation.)
• I spoke to my sister yesterday and she was like seriously tired after working so much. (Here “like” means really, as in to emphasise the tiredness.)
• I talked to my boss yesterday to ask for a day off and he said no. Like, how could he be so mean? (Here “like” emphasises the surprising element of the other person’s response.)

In the same manner as “get”, this is another word that becomes clear once you hear how others use it and you become more advanced in your speaking skills.

Linguistically, the world is dominated by a small group of languages spoken by a huge majority of people. Chinese, English, Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu are some of the most commonly spoken languages in the world, but they are just five of the roughly 6,500 languages today.

So what languages are at the other end of the scale?

Taushiro (Peru)

Taushiro, also known as Pinche or Pinchi, is a very nearly extinct language from the Peruvian Amazon near Ecuador. The last known speaker of the Taushiro is Amadeo García García who lives in the northeastern Peruvian region of Loreto. 

In order to preserve the language,  government linguists from Peru’s Ministry of Culture worked with García to create a database of 1,500 Taushiro words, 27 stories, and three songs.

Tanema (Solomon Islands)

Also known as Tetawo, the Tanema language is again only spoken by one person, Lainol Nalo, on the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands.  The population of the island is around 150, most of whom speak the related language of Tetau and speak some Tanema as a second language.

Lemerig (Vanuatu)

Lemerig has a whopping 200% more fluent speakers than Tanema and Taushiro, being spoken by a whole two people on the tiny island of Vanuatu. Lemerig used to be the most command language on the island until it was slowly replaced by Mwotlap and Vera’a, which, you will be unsurprised to learn, are only spoken by about 2000 people in total.

Njerep (Nigeria)

Njerep is the spoken language of an ethnic group of the same name living in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of Africa’s most ethnically diverse countries, with many small ethnic groups and the Njerep people are one of the smallest, consisting of just six members. 

Because of the diminutive size of the group and its position relative to the much larger dominant Mambilla ethnolinguistic group, Ethnologue has classified Njerep as “nearly extinct.”

Ongota (Ethiopia)

Only slightly up the list of the world’s smallest language from Njerep is Ongota. Spoken only in the eastern African state of Ethiopia, there were only 10  remaining fluent speakers as of 2007.

The language is so small that it shares the name of the tiny agrarian village that houses all ten of its remaining speakers.

Experienced, Efficient And Free For Students

The benefits of taking an ESL course are clear. By improving your English skills you gain better access to education, greater earning potential, a better social life, and even better results from healthcare. We here at Northwest Community College are committed to enhancing our student’s lives, which is why we are proud to offer our ESL courses free of charge to our students and to extend that offer to their families.

Our seasoned language teachers are experienced in working with international students from all over the world and are there to help you get the most from your classes. To help your lessons fit in with your work and home life we also offer day and weekend classes. If you are interested in taking advantage of this excellent opportunity then call one of our ESL councilors today on (702) 403-1592.

Written by:

Fernando Herbert, B.A.  

Spanish Language Consultant