At a café and a restaurant in Slovenian
9 words Slovenian words on the topic “at a café and a restaurant”: kava — coffee, čaj — tea, pivo — beer, vino — wine. 9 words can be played from recordings.
9 words on the topic
- kavacoffeeFeminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
- čajteač is "ch": chigh
- pivobeerBeer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
- vinowineSlovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- želimI would likež is the "zh" of "measure": ZHEH-leem
- restavracijarestaurantv before a consonant sounds like "u": res-TOW-rah-tsee-yah
- kavarnacoffeehouseFrom kava. Sitting for hours over a single cup is the norm here, not an offense.
- račun, prosimthe bill, pleaseračun does triple duty: the cafe bill, the bank account and the shop receipt.
- kavarnacafeOne word covers both cafe and coffeehouse; a bar is a counter where you drink standing. Feminine — "in the cafe" is v kavarni.
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
kava — coffee. Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
čaj — tea. An ear-trap: čaj is tea, čakaj is wait. The cafe will ask which kind: črni, black, or zeliščni, herbal.
pivo — beer. Beer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
vino — wine. Slovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
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 kava — coffee.
- What is this word?
It is račun, prosim — the bill, please.
- What is this word?
It is restavracija — restaurant.
- What is this word?
It is vino — wine.
- What is this word?
It is čaj — 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 Slovenian?
Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
- How do you say “the bill, please” in Slovenian?
račun does triple duty: the cafe bill, the bank account and the shop receipt.
- How do you say “restaurant” in Slovenian?
A place with a full lunch and a bill to match. Simpler and cheaper is the gostilna, a family tavern with home cooking.
- How do you say “wine” in Slovenian?
Slovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- How do you say “tea” in Slovenian?
An ear-trap: čaj is tea, čakaj is wait. The cafe will ask which kind: črni, black, or zeliščni, herbal.
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.
- This holds 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 Slovenian?
«kava». Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good". 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?
A dozen is enough. The set of 9 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.
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.