At a café and a restaurant in Hebrew
9 words in Hebrew on the topic “at a café and a restaurant”: קפה — coffee, תה — tea, אני רוצה — I want, מסעדה — restaurant.
9 words on the topic
- קפהкафеcoffeeReads almost like the English word, but it is the drink. Black coffee here is kafe shachor
- תהтэteaA two-letter word. The final ה is not read — te, not teh
- אני רוצהани роцеI wantA woman says ani rotza. The polite order at a cafe goes through rotse, not through a command
- מסעדהмисадаrestaurantFrom the root s-a-d, to eat. The place with a waiter and a bill
- בית קפהбейт кафеcoffee houseTwo words: house + coffee. This is how Hebrew builds compound names — the house of a thing is its establishment
- חשבון, בבקשהхешбон, бевакашаthe bill, pleaseCheshbon is both the cafe bill and math. In Israeli coffee houses you pay at the counter; the bill is asked for in restaurants
- בירהбираbeerThe plural is birot. The doubling vowel inside is long: bee-ra
- ייןяйинwineTwo yods are written in a row, only one i sounds. From it also machsan yayin — a wine cellar
- בית קפהбейт кафеcafeYou have met beit kafe as a coffee house: it is one and the same place — drink coffee, sit a while. With the article it becomes beit hakafe, the particular cafe
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
קפה (кафе) — coffee. Reads almost like the English word, but it is the drink. Black coffee here is kafe shachor.
תה (тэ) — tea. A two-letter word. The final ה is not read — te, not teh.
אני רוצה (ани роце) — I want. A woman says ani rotza. The polite order at a cafe goes through rotse, not through a command.
מסעדה (мисада) — restaurant. From the root s-a-d, to eat. The place with a waiter and a bill.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee” in Hebrew?
Reads almost like the English word, but it is the drink. Black coffee here is kafe shachor
- How do you say “wine” in Hebrew?
Two yods are written in a row, only one i sounds. From it also machsan yayin — a wine cellar
- How do you say “the bill, please” in Hebrew?
Cheshbon is both the cafe bill and math. In Israeli coffee houses you pay at the counter; the bill is asked for in restaurants
- How do you say “restaurant” in Hebrew?
From the root s-a-d, to eat. The place with a waiter and a bill
- How do you say “tea” in Hebrew?
A two-letter word. The final ה is not read — te, not teh
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 Hebrew?
«קפה», read “кафе”. Reads almost like the English word, but it is the drink. Black coffee here is kafe shachor. 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.