καφετέρια
“καφετέρια” (kafetéria) — café in Greek. Noun, level A1, topic — at a café and a restaurant. 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. In a live sentence: “Η καφετέρια είναι ανοιχτή” — The café is open. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters κ, α, φ, ε, τ, ρ, ι, α.
In short
| Written in Greek | καφετέρια |
| Read in Latin letters | kafetéria |
| Translation | café |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- καφετέριαkafetériacafé
Why it looks that way
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
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.
- Η καφετέρια είναι ανοιχτήi kafetéria íne anikhtíThe café is open
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
- ταβέρναtavérnatavernanot a restaurant but a simple family-run place with home cooking and wine from the barrel. The β reads v: ta-VER-na
- το καφενείοto kafeníocoffee houseneuter. The course knows kafetéria, the modern café; kafenío is the old Greek coffee house where one cup lasts for hours
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 “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 “taverna” in Greek?
not a restaurant but a simple family-run place with home cooking and wine from the barrel. The β reads v: ta-VER-na
- 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 “café” in Greek?
«καφετέρια», read “kafetéria”. In a live sentence: “Η καφετέρια είναι ανοιχτή” — The café is open. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”; written with the characters κ, α, φ, ε, τ, ρ, ι, α.
How is “καφετέρια” written in Latin letters?
kafetéria. 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?
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. 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.