LingoflyAt a café and a restaurant in Spanish
9 words in Spanish on the topic “at a café and a restaurant”: el café — coffee, el té — tea, la ensalada — salad, la sopa — soup. 9 words can be played from recordings.
9 words on the topic
- el cafécoffeeBoth the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender
- el téteaEl té with the accent is tea; te without it is 'you' as an object. The third pair after sí/si and tú/tu
- la ensaladasaladThere's sal — salt — inside it: the 'salted' one. In Spain it means vegetables with oil and vinegar, not the mayonnaise kind
- la sopasoupEstar hecho una sopa means 'soaked to the skin'. A plate of it is un plato de sopa
- quieroI wantFrom querer, which also means 'to love': te quiero is 'I love you', not 'I want you'
- la cuenta, por favorthe check, pleaseIn Spain nobody brings the bill unasked: you may hold the table for an hour after your coffee
- el restauranterestaurantMasculine. In Spain people more often head to el bar — morning coffee, lunch, and an evening beer all happen there
- la cafeteríacafeStress on the í: kah-feh-teh-REE-ah
- el barbarIn Spain not a night spot but the everyday corner café: coffee in the morning, the set lunch at midday
Download the word set (CSV) · Open the printable sheet
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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 café — coffee. Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender.
el té — tea. El té with the accent is tea; te without it is 'you' as an object. The third pair after sí/si and tú/tu.
la ensalada — salad. There's sal — salt — inside it: the 'salted' one. In Spain it means vegetables with oil and vinegar, not the mayonnaise kind.
la sopa — soup. Estar hecho una sopa means 'soaked to the skin'. A plate of it is un plato de sopa.
Test yourself
First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.
- What is this word?
It is el café — coffee.
- What is this word?
It is la cafetería — cafe.
- What is this word?
It is la cuenta, por favor — the check, please.
- What is this word?
It is la sopa — soup.
- What is this word?
It is el té — tea.
Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee” in Spanish?
Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender
- How do you say “cafe” in Spanish?
A place you walk into; el café is the drink in the cup, and often the place too. In Latin America la cafetería is often a canteen at an office or university
- How do you say “the check, please” in Spanish?
In Spain nobody brings the bill unasked: you may hold the table for an hour after your coffee
- How do you say “soup” in Spanish?
Estar hecho una sopa means 'soaked to the skin'. A plate of it is un plato de sopa
- How do you say “tea” in Spanish?
El té with the accent is tea; te without it is 'you' as an object. The third pair after sí/si and tú/tu
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.
- Study spread over days wins 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 Spanish?
«el café». Both the drink and the place that serves it. El is the masculine article — it also tells you the gender. It is one of 9 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?
The whole set on this page is 9 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.
Is there audio?
Yes, 9 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.