Lingoflykavarna
- cafe
“kavarna” — cafe in Slovenian. Noun, level A0, topic — at a café and a restaurant. Kavarna means "cafe, coffeehouse". A bar also serves drinks; you can sit down there too. To say "in the cafe", change the final a to i: v kavarni. In a live sentence: “V kavarni na vogalu je vedno polno” — The cafe on the corner is always full. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | kavarna |
| Translation | cafe |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
kavarna means "cafe, coffeehouse". A bar also serves drinks; you can sit down there too. To say "in the cafe", change the final a to i: v kavarni.
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.
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
- 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.
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 “cafe” in Slovenian?
kavarna means "cafe, coffeehouse". A bar also serves drinks; you can sit down there too. To say "in the cafe", change the final a to i: v kavarni.
- 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 “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 “cafe” in Slovenian?
«kavarna». In a live sentence: “V kavarni na vogalu je vedno polno” — The cafe on the corner is always full. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A0, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Kavarna means "cafe, coffeehouse". A bar also serves drinks; you can sit down there too. To say "in the cafe", change the final a to i: v kavarni. 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 this 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.