One jewel of the Wiktionary.com is a list of a the 1000 words that appear more frequently in dialogues. This is Wikcionario:Frecuentes-(1-1000)-Subtítulos de películas. The source of this survey analyzed the words used in movies. This is a large sample of words from a sample of several movies, so statistically speaking, it gives us a good representation on the 1000 most frequent (useful?) words in Spanish language.
The following is the list of the top 100. Spoiler Alert! The more frequent words are by far de (“of,” “from,” “apostrophe + s”) and que (“that,” “who,” which”). If you think of it, you will see that it makes sense.
| # | Word | Frequency (wpt) | Translation | |
| 1. | de | 40880 | of, from | |
| 2. | que | 40437 | that | |
| 3. | no | 35396 | not | |
| 4. | a | 28536 | at, to, towards | |
| 5. | la | 27061 | the | |
| 6. | el | 23137 | the | |
| 7. | es | 20306 | is | |
| 8. | y | 20012 | and | |
| 9. | en | 19587 | in | |
| 10. | lo | 18033 | it | |
| 11. | un | 17162 | a | |
| 12. | por | 13097 | for | |
| 13. | me | 12462 | I, me | |
| 14. | qué | 10900 | what | |
| 15. | una | 10857 | a | |
| 16. | te | 10402 | to you | |
| 17. | los | 9640 | the | |
| 18. | se | 9422 | him/her/it/themself | |
| 19. | con | 8560 | with | |
| 20. | para | 7992 | for, to | |
| 21. | mi | 7397 | me | |
| 22. | está | 7012 | is | |
| 23. | si | 6927 | Yes | |
| 24. | pero | 6057 | but | |
| 25. | las | 6012 | the | |
| 26. | su | 5812 | his, her, its, their | |
| 27. | yo | 5333 | I | |
| 28. | tu | 5281 | your | |
| 29. | del | 4976 | of the | |
| 30. | al | 4945 | to the | |
| 31. | como | 4666 | as | |
| 32. | le | 4475 | to him/to her | |
| 33. | eso | 4059 | that | |
| 34. | sí | 3701 | yes | |
| 35. | esta | 3634 | is | |
| 36. | ya | 3574 | already | |
| 37. | más | 3507 | plus, more | |
| 38. | muy | 3341 | very | |
| 39. | hay | 3205 | there is/are | |
| 40. | bien | 3126 | good | |
| 41. | estoy | 3028 | I am | |
| 42. | todo | 2998 | all | |
| 43. | nos | 2848 | us | |
| 44. | tengo | 2778 | I’ve got | |
| 45. | ha | 2629 | he/she/it has | |
| 46. | este | 2533 | this | |
| 47. | cuando | 2533 | when | |
| 48. | sólo | 2389 | alone | |
| 49. | vamos | 2378 | we go | |
| 50. | cómo | 2377 | how | |
| 51. | estás | 2366 | you are | |
| 52. | o | 2331 | either, or | |
| 53. | soy | 2321 | I am | |
| 54. | puedo | 2309 | I can | |
| 55. | esto | 2301 | this | |
| 56. | quiero | 2279 | I love, I want | |
| 57. | aquí | 2272 | here | |
| 58. | tiene | 2265 | he/she/it has got | |
| 59. | tú | 2260 | you | |
| 60. | ahora | 2233 | now | |
| 61. | algo | 2195 | something | |
| 62. | fue | 2114 | was | |
| 63. | son | 2051 | are | |
| 64. | ser | 2032 | to be | |
| 65. | he | 2020 | I have | |
| 66. | era | 1995 | it was | |
| 67. | eres | 1932 | are you | |
| 68. | así | 1913 | so | |
| 69. | sé | 1893 | I know | |
| 70. | tienes | 1889 | you have | |
| 71. | ese | 1886 | that | |
| 72. | bueno | 1797 | well, good | |
| 73. | creo | 1789 | I believe | |
| 74. | todos | 1744 | everyone | |
| 75. | sus | 1744 | their | |
| 76. | puede | 1739 | can | |
| 77. | voy | 1710 | I go | |
| 78. | tan | 1622 | so | |
| 79. | esa | 1622 | that | |
| 80. | porque | 1617 | because | |
| 81. | dónde | 1589 | where | |
| 82. | hacer | 1577 | to do, to make | |
| 83. | quién | 1574 | who | |
| 84. | nunca | 1561 | never | |
| 85. | nada | 1535 | any | |
| 86. | él | 1490 | he | |
| 87. | estaba | 1481 | was | |
| 88. | están | 1434 | they are | |
| 89. | quieres | 1433 | you want | |
| 90. | va | 1432 | goes | |
| 91. | sabes | 1430 | you know | |
| 92. | vez | 1423 | time | |
| 93. | hace | 1390 | make, do | |
| 94. | ella | 1388 | she | |
| 95. | dos | 1383 | two | |
| 96. | tenemos | 1367 | we have | |
| 97. | puedes | 1349 | you may | |
| 98. | sin | 1317 | without | |
| 99. | hasta | 1281 | until | |
| 100. | sr | 1272 | Mr. |
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