kavarna
“kavarna” — coffeehouse in Slovenian. Noun, level A1, topic — at a café and a restaurant. From kava. Sitting for hours over a single cup is the norm here, not an offense. In a live sentence: “Dobiva se v kavarni ob treh” — Let us meet at the coffeehouse at three. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 9 words in the set “at a café and a restaurant” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | kavarna |
| Translation | coffeehouse |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- kavarnacoffeehouse
What it is
A coffeehouse in the Austrian style: newspapers, pastries, tables on the embankment, and the unspoken right to linger over one cup as long as you like. Ljubljana’s kavarne along the river are busy in any weather, winter included.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
From kava. Sitting for hours over a single cup is the norm here, not an offense.
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.
- Dobiva se v kavarni ob trehLet us meet at the coffeehouse at three
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.
- 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
- 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.
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 “coffeehouse” in Slovenian?
From kava. Sitting for hours over a single cup is the norm here, not an offense.
- 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 “I would like” in Slovenian?
Literally "I wish" — politer than hočem, "I want". This is the word to use in a cafe.
- How do you say “beer” in Slovenian?
Beer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
- How do you say “coffee” in Slovenian?
Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
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 “coffeehouse” in Slovenian?
«kavarna». In a live sentence: “Dobiva se v kavarni ob treh” — Let us meet at the coffeehouse at three. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
From kava. Sitting for hours over a single cup is the norm here, not an offense. 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.