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Food and drink in Slovenian

190 words in Slovenian on the topic “food and drink”: kava — coffee, čaj — tea, voda — water, kruh — bread. 190 words can be played from recordings.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

190 words on the topic

  • kava
    coffee
    Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
  • čaj
    tea
    č is "ch": chigh
  • voda
    water
    In Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.
  • kruh
    bread
    final h is sounded: krooh
  • mleko
    milk
    Take the ml- cluster straight on, no vowel in between: MLEH-koh.
  • 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.
  • hrana
    food
    Short, stress on the first syllable; the verb hraniti means "to feed, to nourish".
  • sir
    cheese
    Spelled like the English "sir" but said with a long "ee": seer. One of the easiest words.
  • meso
    meat
    Stress the second syllable: meh-SOH. One letter away from mesto, which is "city".
  • riba
    fish
    On the coast the menu says morska riba, sea fish; in the mountains it is postrv, trout.
  • solata
    salad
    Runs through an "o", like Italian insalata — and stress the final "a".
  • juha
    soup
    j is "y", and the h sounds: YOO-hah
  • sol
    salt
    Feminine, and said exactly as spelled: one short syllable.
  • sadje
    fruit
    A false friend — it is not "garden"; the garden is vrt. The root means "what is planted", which is why it names fruit.
  • jabolko
    apple
    j is "y": YAH-bohl-koh
  • pomaranča
    orange
    č is "ch": poh-mah-RAHN-cha
  • paradižnik
    tomato
    ž is the "zh" of "measure": pah-rah-DEEZH-neek
  • zelenjava
    vegetables
    From zelen, "green" — literally the green stuff. The partner of sadje, and mixing the two up is a classic market mistake.
  • okusno
    tasty
    From okus, "taste". Said with feeling, it is the best compliment to a host.
  • jesti
    to eat
    j is "y": YEH-stee
  • piti
    to drink
    The present changes its stem: pijem, piješ, pije. A drink is pijača, from the same root.
  • svež
    fresh
    final ž devoices: svesh
  • zrel
    ripe
    l at the end of a syllable sounds like "u"
  • po jedi
    after meals
    j is "y"
  • zajtrk
    breakfast
    r works as a vowel: zightrk, no extra vowel between t and k
  • kosilo
    lunch
    The main meal of the day, around one. It only looks related to kos, "piece" — it is not.
  • večerja
    dinner
    č is "ch", stress the second syllable: veh-CHEH-ryah
  • žvečiti
    to chew
    ž and č in one short word: ZHVEH-chee-tee
  • požirati
    to swallow
    ž is the "zh" of "measure", stress the i
  • apetit
    appetite
    At the table people wish Dober tek! — literally "a good run" — and apetit is never said there. It lives in nimam apetita.
  • kos
    piece (portion)
    final s as written: kohsk
  • vonj
    smell
    nj is a soft "ny"
  • maslo
    butter
    the l stays a clear "l" before o
  • krompir
    potato
    From the German for "ground pear", via dialects. Singular, like its English cousin.
  • moka
    flour
    Stress the first syllable. A different word, muka with u, means torment.
  • med
    honey
    final d devoices
  • oreški
    nuts
    š is "sh"
  • čebula
    onion
    č is "ch"
  • korenje
    carrot
    j is "y"
  • poper
    pepper (spice)
    Only the ground black kind. The vegetable is paprika — mixing them in the kitchen is insulting.
  • fižol
    beans
    ž is the "zh" of "measure", final l sounds like "u"
  • začimbe
    spices
    z as in "zoo", č is "ch"
  • kuhati
    to cook
    From the German kochen. Covers cooking and boiling alike — no separate verb.
  • umivati
    to wash (hands, face)
    Dishes take pomivati, hands umivati si roke, laundry prati — three verbs where one might do.
  • nož
    knife
    final ž devoices
  • skuhati
    to boil (cook done)
    The perfective of kuhati: cooked through. The everyday boiling uses the same root — only the aspect differs.
  • cvreti
    to fry
    c is "ts", v before r sounds like "u"
  • peči
    to bake
    č is "ch"
  • rezati
    to cut
    The present alternates: režem, režeš. The slice is rezina — hence rezanci, noodles.
  • lonec
    pot (cooking)
    c is "ts"
  • ponev
    frying pan
    final v sounds like "u"
  • štedilnik
    stove
    š is "sh", l before n sounds like "u"
  • krožnik
    plate
    ž is the "zh" of "measure"
  • skodelica
    cup
    c is "ts"
  • kozarec
    glass
    c is "ts"
  • žlica
    spoon
    ž is the "zh" of "measure", c is "ts"
  • vilice
    fork
    c is "ts"
  • steklenica
    bottle
    c is "ts"
  • prtiček
    napkin
    č is "ch", no vowel between p and r
  • čajnik
    teapot
    č is "ch", j is "y"
  • pladenj
    tray
    nj is a soft "ny"
  • vroč
    hot (temperature)
    č is "ch"
  • mrzel
    cold (to touch)
    r is syllabic, final l sounds like "u"
  • lačen
    hungry
    č is "ch"
  • okus
    taste
    The adverb is okusno, "tasty". okus is both the taste of food and a person's taste: ima dober okus.
  • slan
    salty
    From sol. Oversalted is preslano — the pre- prefix again means "too".
  • kisel
    sour
    final l sounds like "u"
  • grenek
    bitter
    Feminine grenka. The noun grenkoba shares the root with a little shuffling.
  • pekoč
    hot (spicy)
    č is "ch"
  • sit
    full (not hungry)
    Declining a second helping: Hvala, sit sem. A woman: sita sem.
  • poskusiti
    to try
    Both tasting and attempting: poskusi še enkrat — "try again".
  • jedilni list
    menu (card)
    l before n sounds like "u"
  • natakar
    waiter
    From natakati, "to pour". A waitress is natakarica. Call him with Oprostite! — not by shouting.
  • naročilo
    order (request)
    č is "ch"
  • naročiti
    to order
    č is "ch"
  • jed
    dish
    final d devoices
  • porcija
    portion
    c is "ts"
  • miza za dva
    table for two
    The dual right in the order: za dva — for two, za dve osebi — for two persons. For three it is already za tri.
  • sladica
    dessert
    c is "ts"
  • brez mesa
    meatless
    After brez, always the "of what" form: brez mesa, brez sladkorja. A vegetarian dish is brezmesna jed.
  • torta
    cake
    feminine: velika torta, a big cake; a slice is kos torte
  • testenine
    pasta
    Stress on the second-to-last syllable: tehs-teh-NEE-neh
  • jogurt
    yogurt
    navadni jogurt is plain, sadni fruit; the drinkable kind comes in bottles, pitni jogurt
  • smetana
    cream
    Stress on the first syllable: SMEH-tah-nah
  • sladoled
    ice cream
    Stress on the last syllable: slah-doh-LEHD
  • čokolada
    chocolate
    Č is "ch" as in "church": choh-koh-LAH-dah
  • piškoti
    cookies
    Š is "sh" as in "ship": peesh-KOH-tee
  • govedina
    beef
    Stress on the second syllable: goh-VEH-dee-nah
  • ovčetina
    mutton
    Č is "ch" as in "church": ohv-cheh-TEE-nah
  • kozice
    prawns
    C is "ts" as in "cats": koh-ZEE-tseh
  • grozdje
    grapes
    Zdj glides by as one cluster; Stress on the first syllable: GROHZ-dyeh
  • kumara
    cucumber
    Stress on the first syllable: KOO-mah-rah
  • zelje
    cabbage
    The first syllable is "zeh": ZEH-lyeh; do not confuse with želja, "wish" — that one has the zh
  • česen
    garlic
    Č is "ch" as in "church": CHEH-sehn
  • buča
    pumpkin
    Č is "ch" as in "church": BOO-chah
  • jajčevec
    eggplant
    Jč sounds like "y-ch", c is "ts" as in "cats": YAHY-cheh-vehts
  • limona
    lemon
    feminine; lemon juice is limonin sok, lemonade limonada
  • lubenica
    watermelon
    C is "ts" as in "cats": LOO-beh-nee-tsah
  • jagoda
    strawberry
    J is "y" as in "yes"; Stress on the first syllable: YAH-goh-dah
  • hruška
    pear
    Š is "sh" as in "ship"; Stress on the first syllable: HROOSH-kah
  • breskev
    peach
    feminine, "of what" is breskve; an apricot is marelica, a nectarine nektarina
  • recept
    recipe
    one word for the kitchen recipe and the prescription; at the pharmacy they specify zdravilo na recept; the culinary one is recept za potico
  • olupiti zelenjavo
    peel the vegetables
    from lupina, peel: to peel is to take the skin off; cleaning a fish or your teeth is čistiti, another verb
  • zavreti
    boil
    No vowel between v and r: zahv-REH-tee
  • premešati
    stir
    Š is "sh" as in "ship": preh-MEH-shah-tee
  • osoliti
    add salt
    Stress on the second-to-last syllable: oh-soh-LEE-tee
  • pogreti
    reheat
    from greti, to warm; reheat in the microwave is pogreti v mikrovalovki; to preheat the oven in advance is segreti
  • ohladiti
    cool down
    from hladen, cold — the same root as hladilnik, the fridge; Naj se ohladi, let it cool
  • stepsti jajca
    whisk eggs
    stepsti serves eggs and cream alike — hence stepena smetana; the whisk is metlica
  • dodati vode
    add water
    a case trap: vode, not vodo; the "of what" form here means some of, and the same goes for dodaj soli, dodaj mleka
  • peči na žaru
    cook on the grill
    Č is "ch" as in "church", ž is "zh" as in "vision": PEH-chee-nah-ZHAH-roo
  • rok uporabe
    use-by date
    rok is a term, uporaba a use; on packaging it is written shorter: Uporabno do
  • pokvariti se
    go bad
    one word for food and for machines: mleko se je pokvarilo and pralni stroj se je pokvaril alike; the adjective is pokvarjen
  • kozarec
    jar
    c = ts: koh-ZAH-rets
  • repete
    seconds (food)
    this is how you ask for a second helping: Ali lahko dobim repete?
  • za s sabo
    to take away
    literally so that with yourself; in a café they ask exactly that: Za s sabo ali tukaj?
  • brez sladkorja
    without sugar
    brez always takes the "of what" form: brez mleka, brez soli, brez mesa — one rule for all foods
  • sem vegetarijanec
    I am a vegetarian
    a woman says sem vegetarijanka; a vegan is vegan, and a meatless dish is brezmesna jed
  • dober tek
    enjoy your meal
    literally a good appetite; tek means both appetite and running; said before every meal, even to strangers at the next table
  • mastna hrana
    fatty food
    Stress on the first syllable of each word: MAHS-tnah-HRAH-nah
  • bonbon
    candy
    Stress on the last syllable: bohn-BOHN
  • nacionalna jed
    national dish
    jed is a dish, feminine on a consonant, from jesti; the Slovenian ones are potica and žganci
  • ulična hrana
    street food
    Č is "ch" as in "church": OO-leech-nah-HRAH-nah
  • sveže pečen
    freshly baked
    č is "ch"
  • star kruh
    stale (bread)
    h sounds
  • svinjina
    pork
    meso is meat in general; each animal gets its own -ina word: svinjina, govedina. Feminine.
  • piščančje meso
    chicken (meat)
    The bird is piščanec; its meat is the neuter adjective piščančje plus meso. The laying hen is kokoš.
  • račje meso
    duck (meat)
    The living bird is raca; on the plate it becomes račje meso, with the neuter adjective.
  • mleto meso
    ground meat
    No single word exists: mleti means "to grind", so this is literally "ground meat" — and the adjective stands in front.
  • šunka
    ham
    š is "sh": SHOON-kah
  • hrenovka
    frankfurter
    Sounds as if it contains hren, horseradish, but does not. Two of them take the dual: dve hrenovki.
  • tuna
    tuna
    Feminine here: tuna je sveža, and the instrumental is s tuno.
  • losos
    salmon
    Masculine, "of what" is lososa. Smoked is prekajeni losos.
  • kozica
    shrimp
    A false friend: the same word is a little goat (from koza) and a small pot with a handle; on the counter, kozice are shrimp.
  • morski sadeži
    seafood
    ž is the "zh" of "measure"
  • sliva
    plum
    In conversation the same fruit is often češplja; the literary word is sliva — feminine, dual dve slivi.
  • malina
    raspberry
    Berries are counted one by one here: ena malina, dve malini, tri maline — not by the handful.
  • melona
    melon
    Keep it apart from the watermelon: that one is lubenica, this is melona — both feminine.
  • granatno jabolko
    pomegranate
    jabolko means "apple"; granatno jabolko means "pomegranate", literally "pomegranate apple". Both words end in o here.
  • ananas
    pineapple
    Masculine, "of what" is ananasa. It is cut into rings: na kolobarje.
  • mandarina
    tangerine
    Feminine here: mandarina je sladka.
  • kivi
    kiwi (fruit)
    Masculine and unchanged in the singular: kivi je zrel. The plural, though, is kiviji.
  • avokado
    avocado
    Declines like an ordinary masculine noun: brez avokada, z avokadom.
  • rozine
    raisins
    Plural only: raisins here are little countable things, and the "of what" form is brez rozin.
  • figa
    fig
    Feminine. The same word is the rude fig gesture in kazati figo, so it lives outside food too.
  • paprika
    bell pepper
    poper is the ground spice; the vegetable off the vine is paprika — feminine.
  • bučka
    zucchini
    č is "ch": BOOCH-kah
  • rdeča pesa
    beet
    č is "ch"
  • redkvica
    radish
    redkev is the big black radish, redkvica the small red one — a diminutive splitting two vegetables.
  • zelišča
    herbs
    š is "sh", č is "ch": zeh-LEESH-cha
  • koper
    dill
    A capital K changes everything: Koper is a coastal city, koper the herb. Instrumental s koprom.
  • peteršilj
    parsley
    Masculine, "of what" is peteršilja. The root traveled in from German.
  • ingver
    ginger
    Masculine. Fresh root: svež ingver. Ground: mlet ingver. The "of what" form: ingverja.
  • koruza
    corn
    z here is voiced like "z" in "zoo"
  • špinača
    spinach
    š is "sh", č is "ch": shpee-NAH-cha
  • žemlja
    bread roll
    ž is the "zh" of "measure": ZHEM-lyah
  • pita
    pie
    Feminine. An apple pie is jabolčna pita, and a rolled meat pie is burek.
  • kolaček
    pastry
    sladica is dessert in general; a single pastry is kolaček, a diminutive of kolač.
  • ameriški krof
    ring doughnut
    krof is the local holeless doughnut; the ring with a hole had to be named "American".
  • pecivo
    baked goods
    Neuter, from peči, "to bake". A collective — cookies and rolls at once — so it almost never appears in the plural.
  • marmelada
    jam
    Here it covers any fruit jam, not only the citrus kind that English "marmalade" keeps to itself.
  • sirup
    syrup
    Masculine. The same word names drink concentrate: malinov sirup is raspberry syrup you dilute with water.
  • pokovka
    popcorn
    A native word instead of the English one, from pokati, "to pop". Feminine, the object form is pokovko.
  • čips
    potato chips
    č is "ch": chips
  • žvečilni gumi
    chewing gum
    ž is the "zh" of "measure"
  • limonada
    lemonade
    Feminine. To a local it is first of all a homemade lemon drink, not a bottle of soda.
  • mineralna voda
    mineral water
    voda is water; at the table you order mineralno vodo, in speech clipped to just mineralno.
  • gazirana voda
    sparkling water
    The pair: gazirana is with gas, negazirana without — the little ne- prefix does the negating.
  • koktajl
    cocktail
    Spelled the way it sounds. Masculine, plural koktajli.
  • kakav
    cocoa
    Masculine and fully declined here: kakav je vroč, brez kakava — it does not freeze into an indeclinable shape.
  • instant kava
    instant coffee
    kava means "coffee"; instant kava is "instant coffee". The word instant stays the same before it: pijem instant kavo, "I drink instant coffee".
  • čajna vrečka
    tea bag
    vrečka is a shopping bag; the tea one is marked by the adjective čajna.
  • vrela voda
    boiling water
    No single word exists: vreti is "to boil", so it is literally "boiled water". vroča voda is merely hot.
  • alkohol
    alcohol
    Masculine, "of what" is alkohola. A drink without it is brezalkoholna pijača.
  • pijača
    drink
    From piti, "to drink". Feminine, and the same word covers drinks in general: gremo na pijačo, "let us go for drinks".
  • sok
    juice
    Masculine, "of what" is soka. Orange juice is pomarančni sok — an adjective, not a "juice of orange" chain.
  • potica
    potica cake
    The mold is called potičnik — without it, it is just a roulade.
  • prekmurska gibanica
    Prekmurje layered pastry
    Prekmurje is the region beyond the Mura river; its dialect is the most distinct from the standard.
  • kranjska klobasa
    Carniolan sausage
    The wooden skewer is not decoration: it is how you tell the real one from a fake.
  • žganci
    žganci mush
    The buckwheat kind, ajdovi žganci, counts as the most Slovenian of all.
  • štruklji
    štruklji rolls
    Cottage cheese with tarragon — skutni s pehtranom — is the commonest filling.
  • jota
    jota stew
    The soured turnip is called kislo repo — more sour than cabbage, and it gives the whole flavor.
  • ričet
    ričet stew
    The word comes from the German Ritschert; the kitchen mirrors the neighborhood right in the names.
  • kremšnita
    cream cake
    It is cut with a special knife in one stroke, or the layers slide apart.
  • krof
    krof doughnut
    That very pale band is the venček — by it the mastery is judged.
  • bela kava
    milky coffee
    Literally "white coffee"; the black one without milk is simply kava.
  • cviček
    Cviček wine
    Locals speak of it with pride and warn visitors in advance.
  • teran
    Teran
    The wine and the land share a name: terra rossa is that very red soil.
  • kraški pršut
    Karst prosciutto
    It is cut by hand with a thin knife; machine slicing counts as spoiling the product.

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How it sounds in a sentence

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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.

voda — water. In Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.

kruh — bread. The h at the end is fully pronounced: krooh. A distant cousin of the English "crumb".

Test yourself

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Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.

  1. How do you say “coffee” in Slovenian?

  2. How do you say “food” in Slovenian?

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  4. How do you say “to drink” in Slovenian?

  5. How do you say “to chew” in Slovenian?

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.

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.

Frequently asked

How do you say “coffee” in Slovenian?

«kava». Feminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good". It is one of 190 words in the set “food and drink” — the rest are in the table above.

How many food words do you need to start?

The whole set on this page is 190 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.

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Yes, 190 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.

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