Well you could start narrowing down your options by categorising the available lenses, broadly. I'd think in terms of, do you want a zoom lens to take wildlife and stuff from a distance; a wide angle to take landscapes or... wider, shots; a macro-esque lens to take nice zoomed-in close ups; a fish-eye lens to take crazy warped shots...
Once you've figured this, and got a budget, you can look at specific options :)
I'm going to assume you got the 18-55mm kit lens, which is a darn good lens to start out with. You have wide angle availability for landscapes and a mild zoom as well.
I think the 55-200 VR f3.5 - 5.6 is a good second lens to have. You'll have the additional zoom out to 200mm and the benefit of VR to help keep those zoomed in shots sharp. I have found the 200mm length very useful as a close-up lens also. It has very good bokeh and many times the background comes out very smooth and/or dark when using the lens wide open at 200mm to emulate close-up.
Both are what are considered "kit lenses", but they are both very good lenses also.
The issue with the 50mm f/1.8 is it will be manual focus on a D5000, so it's kind of a pain to use, plus with the DX crop factor, it's a big long. I'd recommend picking up a Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX. It's a bit more pricey (right around $200) but it works out to be about 53mm, and it's AFS, so it will auto-focus just fine on the D5000.
I have a 18-55mm that came with my kid, a 55-200mm zoom, a 90mm macro (which I use most of the time), and I just bought a nifty fifty. What lens you buy depends on what kind of photos you want to take :-)
I agree with the Christina and Kim - the 50mm. Personally I don't find the lack of AF an issue (you can spend $10K on a 50mm MF prime), but it is something to consider for yourself. If you're shooting wide open you'll often wantto adjust your focus manually anyway to make sure it is pin-sharp.
My go-to lens is an 85mm prime on a FF body, which has a similar field of view to a 50mm on a crop sensor. I don't think it is too tight at all, but that's the way I shoot - others will even find the 35mm too tight, and I know plenty who shoot 35mm on a FF body as their "standard" look.
But for price and quality, you can't beat the 50's.
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Once you've figured this, and got a budget, you can look at specific options :)
I think the 55-200 VR f3.5 - 5.6 is a good second lens to have. You'll have the additional zoom out to 200mm and the benefit of VR to help keep those zoomed in shots sharp. I have found the 200mm length very useful as a close-up lens also. It has very good bokeh and many times the background comes out very smooth and/or dark when using the lens wide open at 200mm to emulate close-up.
Both are what are considered "kit lenses", but they are both very good lenses also.
My go-to lens is an 85mm prime on a FF body, which has a similar field of view to a 50mm on a crop sensor. I don't think it is too tight at all, but that's the way I shoot - others will even find the 35mm too tight, and I know plenty who shoot 35mm on a FF body as their "standard" look.
But for price and quality, you can't beat the 50's.