At a café and a restaurant in Catalan
18 words Catalan words on the topic “at a café and a restaurant”: el cafè — coffee, el te — tea, l'amanida — salad, la sopa — soup.
18 words on the topic
- el cafècoffeeThe drink and the place in one. The el is the masculine article — and a gender hint
- el teteaEl te with the accent is 'tea'; te without it is 'to you'. The pair works like sí and si
- l'amanidasaladFrom amanir, to dress. In Catalonia it is vegetables with oil and vinegar, not anything under mayonnaise
- la sopasoupAnd 'to have dinner' is sopar: the Catalan evening meal is named after a spoonful of soup
- vullI wantFrom voler, to want. Asking with a bare vull is blunt; volia — 'I would like' — is softer
- el compte, si us plauthe bill, pleaseThe bill is masculine — el compte — unlike Spanish. And there, too, it does not arrive until you ask
- el restaurantrestaurantMasculine. As in Spain, people more often go to el bar: morning coffee, lunch and an evening beer all happen there
- el cafè solubleinstant coffeeMasculine: so-LOOB-bleh — Latin "dissolvable". Quick coffee for rushed mornings
- em pot portar la carta?could I see the menu?Literally 'can you bring me the menu?'. La carta is the menu — the neighbors' word too
- què em recomana?what do you recommend?Literally 'what do you recommend to me?'. Recomanar — to recommend: the polite word for the waiter
- el mateix per a miI'll have the sameLiterally 'the same for me'. El mateix — the same: you took it today already
- dos cafès, si us plautwo coffees, pleaseReads as it says: doos kuh-FES, see oos PLYOW. Dos cafès — the stress survives into the plural
- em porta més aigua?more water, pleaseLiterally 'do you bring me more water?': the present tense does the job of 'may I' — that is how people ask
- jo no ho he demanatI didn't order thisLiterally 'I have not ordered it': ho is 'it' — about the ordered thing, you know
- aquí o per emportar?for here or to go?Literally 'here or for carrying away?'. Emportar — to take away: from portar, to carry, with en-
- sense gelno iceLiterally 'without ice': zhell. El gel — ice: the j reads as a zh. In summer people ask for it more than you'd think
- amb lletwith milkLiterally 'with milk'. Cafè amb llet — the morning drink here: half coffee, half milk
- reservar taulato book a tableLiterally 'to reserve a table'. La reserva — the booking: you know it; the verb stands next to it
How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
What is worth knowing about these words
el cafè — coffee. The drink and the place in one. The el is the masculine article — and a gender hint
el te — tea. El te with the accent is 'tea'; te without it is 'to you'. The pair works like sí and si
l'amanida — salad. From amanir, to dress. In Catalonia it is vegetables with oil and vinegar, not anything under mayonnaise
la sopa — soup. And 'to have dinner' is sopar: the Catalan evening meal is named after a spoonful of soup
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee” in Catalan?
The drink and the place in one. The el is the masculine article — and a gender hint
- How do you say “instant coffee” in Catalan?
Masculine: so-LOOB-bleh — Latin "dissolvable". Quick coffee for rushed mornings
- How do you say “for here or to go?” in Catalan?
Literally 'here or for carrying away?'. Emportar — to take away: from portar, to carry, with en-
- How do you say “soup” in Catalan?
And 'to have dinner' is sopar: the Catalan evening meal is named after a spoonful of soup
- How do you say “I'll have the same” in Catalan?
Literally 'the same for me'. El mateix — the same: you took it today already
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
Order, ask the price, ask for the bill. A short and entirely predictable conversation — a convenient place to test yourself for the first time.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “coffee” in Catalan?
«el cafè». The drink and the place in one. The el is the masculine article — and a gender hint. It is one of 18 words in the set “at a café and a restaurant” — the rest are in the table above.
How many café phrases do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 18 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.