το καφενείο
“το καφενείο” (to kafenío) — coffee house in Greek. Noun, level A0, topic — at a café and a restaurant. neuter. The course knows kafetéria, the modern café; kafenío is the old Greek coffee house where one cup lasts for hours. In a live sentence: “Πάμε στο καφενείο” — Let's go to the coffee house. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters τ, ο, κ, α, φ, ε, ν, ε, ο.
In short
| Written in Greek | το καφενείο |
| Read in Latin letters | to kafenío |
| Translation | coffee house |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A0 |
- το καφενείοto kafeníocoffee house
Why it looks that way
neuter. The course knows kafetéria, the modern café; kafenío is the old Greek coffee house where one cup lasts for hours
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Πάμε στο καφενείοpáme sto kafeníoLet's go to the coffee house
Nearby words: at a café and a restaurant
Order, ask the price, ask for the bill. A short and entirely predictable conversation — a convenient place to test yourself for the first time.
- καφέςkaféscoffeemasculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet
- τσάιtsáiteathe ts is one sound, like the ts in cats. Neuter: to tsái. Mountain tea — tsái tu vunoú — is drunk in Greece even more than the regular kind
- σαλάταsalátasaladthe famous 'Greek salad' is called khoriatíki in Greece — village salad. The word 'Greek' in the name appears only abroad
- σούπαsúpasoupou gives the oo of soup — and the accent sits over the second letter of the pair: soú-pa
- θέλωthéloI wantthe th is the th of 'think' — tongue between the teeth. The polite version is tha íthela — I would like
- Τον λογαριασμό, παρακαλώton logariazmó, parakalóthe check, pleaseton is the masculine accusative article — without it the phrase sounds cut off. Inside the word: lógos, reckoning, plus arithmós, number — the same pair as in logarithm
- καφετέριαkafetériacaféa place where people sit with one cup for hours: a Greek café is about conversation, not takeaway. The old-fashioned mens-only kind has a different name, kafenío
- ταβέρναtavérnatavernanot a restaurant but a simple family-run place with home cooking and wine from the barrel. The β reads v: ta-VER-na
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “at a café and a restaurant”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee house” in Greek?
neuter. The course knows kafetéria, the modern café; kafenío is the old Greek coffee house where one cup lasts for hours
- How do you say “café” in Greek?
a place where people sit with one cup for hours: a Greek café is about conversation, not takeaway. The old-fashioned mens-only kind has a different name, kafenío
- How do you say “I want” in Greek?
the th is the th of 'think' — tongue between the teeth. The polite version is tha íthela — I would like
- How do you say “salad” in Greek?
the famous 'Greek salad' is called khoriatíki in Greece — village salad. The word 'Greek' in the name appears only abroad
- How do you say “coffee” in Greek?
masculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “coffee house” in Greek?
«το καφενείο», read “to kafenío”. In a live sentence: “Πάμε στο καφενείο” — Let's go to the coffee house. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A0, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”; written with the characters τ, ο, κ, α, φ, ε, ν, ε, ο.
How is “το καφενείο” written in Latin letters?
to kafenío. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
neuter. The course knows kafetéria, the modern café; kafenío is the old Greek coffee house where one cup lasts for hours. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.