καφές
“καφές” (kafés) — coffee in Greek. Noun, level A0, topic — food and drink. masculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet. In a live sentence: “Έναν καφέ, παρακαλώ” — One coffee, please. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters κ, α, φ. One of 174 words in the set “food and drink” in the Greek course.
In short
| Written in Greek | καφές |
| Read in Latin letters | kafés |
| Translation | coffee |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A0 |
- καφέςkaféscoffee
Why it looks that way
masculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet
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.
- Έναν καφέ, παρακαλώénan kafé, parakalóOne coffee, please
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- 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
- νερόnerówaterneuter: to neró. The ancient hýdor survives only in prefixes like 'hydro-', and this word took over everyday speech
- ψωμίpsomíbreadthe letter ψ says ps in one stroke, as at the end of lips. Neuter: to psomí
- τυρίtirícheesethe υ here is the ee sound: tee-RÍ. Féta is not a variety but a protected name: only Greek cheese may be called that
- κρέαςkréasmeatneuter despite the -as ending: to kréas. There are few words like this, but they are all frequent
- ψάριpsárifishfrom the ancient ópson — 'what goes with bread': fish played that role so often it took over the word
- φρούταfrútafruitou gives oo. Neuter plural: éna frúto becomes frúta. The word is Italian; the native Greek rival is karpóí
- μήλοmíloapplethe η reads ee: MEE-lo. Don't confuse with miló — I speak — where the i carries the stress at the end
- ντομάταdomátatomatont at the start of a word is a plain d: do-MA-ta. It is written as two letters because Greek has no single letter for d
- σαλάταsalátasaladthe famous 'Greek salad' is called khoriatíki in Greece — village salad. The word 'Greek' in the name appears only abroad
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee” in Greek?
masculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet
- How do you say “fruit” in Greek?
ou gives oo. Neuter plural: éna frúto becomes frúta. The word is Italian; the native Greek rival is karpóí
- How do you say “bread” in Greek?
the letter ψ says ps in one stroke, as at the end of lips. Neuter: to psomí
- 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 “fish” in Greek?
from the ancient ópson — 'what goes with bread': fish played that role so often it took over the word
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” in Greek?
«καφές», read “kafés”. In a live sentence: “Έναν καφέ, παρακαλώ” — One coffee, please. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A0, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters κ, α, φ.
How is “καφές” written in Latin letters?
kafés. 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?
masculine: o kafés. Greek coffee is ordered by sweetness: skétos — plain, métrios — medium, glikós — sweet. 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.