กาแฟ
“กาแฟ” (кафэ) — coffee in Thai. Noun, level A0, topic — food and drink. The word came from English coffee. In Thai you order it through kho — "I will take" — and asking for it "cooled" (yen) means asking for iced coffee. In a live sentence: “ขอ กาแฟ ครับ” — Coffee, please (a man says it). Written with the characters ก, า, แ, ฟ. One of 177 words in the set “food and drink” in the Thai course.
In short
| Written in Thai | กาแฟ |
| Read in Latin letters | кафэ |
| Translation | coffee |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
The word came from English coffee. In Thai you order it through kho — "I will take" — and asking for it "cooled" (yen) means asking for iced coffee
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.
- ขอ กาแฟ ครับкхо кафэ кхрапCoffee, please (a man says it)
Nearby words: food and drink
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.
- ชาчаteaOne syllable that argues with chai, "yes": only the tone tells them apart. Thai tea is brewed with milk and sugar in advance — "plain tea" has to be asked for
- น้ำнамwater"Water" plain and water inside compounds: naam som — "water of an orange", juice. Drinking water in a cafe is naam plao, "plain water"
- ขนม ปังкханом пангbreadLiterally "floury sweet" + pang, from the Portuguese pao: bread came to Siam with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. The Thai table does not know bread — it is food on the run
- อาหารаханfoodFood in general, and the second half of the word "restaurant". "Appetizing" and "pungent" grow from the same root — the root of food is everywhere in Thai
- นมномmilkOne syllable. In a cafe "coffee with milk" is said with the verb "to put in": kafae sai nom — literally "coffee put milk"
- เนย แข็งнёй кхэнгcheeseLiterally "hard butter": there was no cheese in the Thai kitchen, and the name was assembled from what there was. Soft cheese is still called "butter"
- เนื้อныаmeatMeat in general, and beef in particular; pork is a separate word. The same syllable names fabric and the lyrics of a song — a long vowel and the tone decide
- ปลาплаfishA long "aa", a mid tone. In counting it takes the animal classifier: plaa nueng tua — "one fish", literally "one body"
- ผัก สลัดпхак салатsaladLiterally "vegetables-salad": the word is English, the vegetable part is Thai. Thai salad is sharper than the European kind — the dressing is the main thing, not the greens
- ซุปсупsoupA borrowing, like the soup plate in a Thai meal. The native soups are named differently: the famous tom yam is not sup but tom yam
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “coffee” in Thai?
The word came from English coffee. In Thai you order it through kho — "I will take" — and asking for it "cooled" (yen) means asking for iced coffee
- How do you say “meat” in Thai?
Meat in general, and beef in particular; pork is a separate word. The same syllable names fabric and the lyrics of a song — a long vowel and the tone decide
- How do you say “bread” in Thai?
Literally "floury sweet" + pang, from the Portuguese pao: bread came to Siam with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. The Thai table does not know bread — it is food on the run
- How do you say “soup” in Thai?
A borrowing, like the soup plate in a Thai meal. The native soups are named differently: the famous tom yam is not sup but tom yam
- How do you say “cheese” in Thai?
Literally "hard butter": there was no cheese in the Thai kitchen, and the name was assembled from what there was. Soft cheese is still called "butter"
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 “coffee” in Thai?
«กาแฟ», read “кафэ”. In a live sentence: “ขอ กาแฟ ครับ” — Coffee, please (a man says it). Noun, level A0, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters ก, า, แ, ฟ.
How is “กาแฟ” written in Latin letters?
кафэ. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The word came from English coffee. In Thai you order it through kho — "I will take" — and asking for it "cooled" (yen) means asking for iced coffee. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.