Learn the words that matter. Skip the ones that don't.
The 1,000 most common words of a language make up roughly 80% of the words in everyday conversation. Most apps still teach you "elephant" before "I need". We start with the words you'll say every day, in Spanish.
Read the curriculum freeFree week when you sign upThen $5 a month to keep saving
Not a beginner? Take a 2-minute level test
Quick taster
3-word session
A quick mix of exercises - recognise, recall, type and build each word. Miss one and it comes back round until it sticks.
Read a real story in Mandarin
在家的早上
Top 1,000 words
。，。。
Today I go home. I'm hungry and want to eat. My friend says there is food on the table.
Every story uses only words you have already met, so you can read it without a dictionary. Tap a word you've forgotten. Browse Mandarin stories
Grammar, with the gotchas in German
The four cases
der Mann
the man (the article says who does what)
- subject (nom.)
- der Mann
- object (acc.)
- den Mann
- to, for (dat.)
- dem Mann
- of (gen.)
- des Mannes
Word order will not save you. Der Hund beißt den Mann: the dog bites the man. Den Hund beißt der Mann: the man bites the dog. Same order, and only the articles tell you who got bitten.
Short guides built on examples: the rule, why it matters and where it trips people up. German grammar
Learn by email
See what's in the emailYour daily learning tasks SPANISH: 2 NEW WORDS Preview - from your next lesson, "More people, more words": - ella - she, her - nosotros - we, us FRENCH GRAMMAR TIP: The article English drops but French demands Preview - coming up in "French articles: when to use which" French has a third article system English lacks: the partitive du, de la, de l', des, marking an unspecified amount. Je mange du pain is I eat bread. Je mange pain is not a sentence. When in doubt, put the article in; French over-articulates by English standards. Je mange du pain. I am eating (some) bread. One quick question (ten seconds, keeps your streak): The Kilo Lingo team Spanish words: Learn via email is on for Spanish. French grammar tip: you turned this on.
Free for chapters 1 and 2 of every course; part of Plus after that.
Take it off the screen
Every lesson, story and grammar topic comes with a printable worksheet. Handy for teachers, or for studying away from a glowing rectangle. Tap one to open it.
The maths is on your side
A handful of words does most of the work. Spend your time on those.
- of everyday speech from 1,000 words
- 80%
- core words that do the heavy lifting
- 1000
- languages, more to follow
- 10
- hours to conversational Spanish (FSI)
- ~600
of everyday speech from 1,000 words
core words that do the heavy lifting
languages, more to follow
hours to conversational Spanish (FSI)
The most frequent 1,000 English word families make up about 81-84% of the running words in spoken English (Nation, 2006); the exact share differs by language. Sources and their limits are on the methodology page. FSI hours from the US Foreign Service Institute difficulty rankings.
Pick your language
Each card says what makes that language easy or hard for an English speaker, and the newer courses say how big they are so far.
Stop learning "elephant". Start saying "I need".
Every lesson is free to read, and stays that way. An account is what remembers them for you: free for a week, then $5 a month. No guilt trips, no fake congratulations.