Early Language? She said what? Verbs, Prepositions and Adjectives… Oh MY.
As an adult in a child’s life we play a major role in helping them learn new words. When helping a young child develop early language, be sure to include different types of words. Usually, babies and toddlers learn nouns (people, places and things). However, once your child reaches about 50 common words they will start to say phrases. You can help expand their vocabulary by adding verbs (actions) adjectives (descriptions) and prepositions (locations). A grammar review for you in one short sentence! Adding new categories will help your child combine more words to make sentences.
A Google Search of the term “baby’s first 100 words” located almost 24 million hits so it certainly is a topic of interest. The table below includes lists of words by category that most children include in their first 100 words or so. The list is compiled from several sources. I have also added a column for you to add the additional words that your child may use.
Tip: Make a copy of the table and highlight the words as you hear them over a time period. You may even want color code them relating them to frequency or clarity.
Good Resource that includes speech and language milestones. How Does Your Child Hear and Talk?
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Early Language Development Common Words
| Category | Common Words | Add your own |
| Social Function | more, please, thank you, hi/hello, bye-bye, again, sorry, uh-oh, yes/uh-huh/okay, no/uh-uh, no thank you | |
| Action (Verbs)
|
eat, drink, run, stop, go, kiss, open, shut, jump, walk, sleep/night-night, wash close, push, pull, fix, play, want, hug, broke, love, hurt, tickle, give (“gimme”), all gone, all done, dance, help, cry, ride, rock, fall, see, watch, look, sit, stand (up), throw, catch, blow, cry, throw, swing, slide, climb, ride, rock, come (“C’mon”), color/draw | |
| Location (Prepositions)
|
up, down, in, out, off, on, here, there (Plus later ones such as around, under, behind, over at/after age 3) | |
| Descriptive (Adjectives/Adverbs)
|
big, little, hot, cold, loud, quiet, yucky, icky, scary, funny, silly, dirty, clean, gentle, wet, soft, fast, slow, color words (red, blue, yellow, green, pink, orange, purple, black, white, brown) and quantity words (all, none, more, some, plus early number words – especially 1, 2, 3) | |
| Early Pronouns
|
me, mine, my, I, you, it (Then toward age 3 the gender pronouns such as he, she, him, her) | |
| Nouns
|
People names– Mama, Dada, Names of family members, GG, Gpa, book and TV character names.
Toys: bubbles, ball, car, boat, train, bat, choo-choo, train, book, bike, truck, baby, plane Outdoors: sunny, rain, moon, star, dark, tree, flower, Food: bowl, spoon, plate, chip, cracker, cereal, banana, juice, water, milk, candy, apple, cheese, ice cream, cereal (Cheerios) Animals: cat, dog, bird, duck, cow, bunny, horse, bear, fish, horse, pig, snake, frog, chicken, lion, elephant, giraffe, monkey, butterfly, bee Clothes: hat, shirt, sock, shoe, diaper, boat, pants, Household items: phone, house, bed, light, blanket, bath, chair, brush, towel, soap, |
