คาเฟ่
“คาเฟ่” (кафэ) — cafe in Thai. Noun, level A0, topic — at a café and a restaurant. Khafe came from English; raan khaafae, the "coffeehouse", you have met, while khafe is a place to sit with a dessert and a laptop. In a live sentence: “คาเฟ่ ใหม่ อยู่ ใกล้ บ้าน” — The new cafe is close to the house. Written with the characters ค, า, เ, ฟ, ่. One of 9 words in the set “at a café and a restaurant” in the Thai course.
In short
| Written in Thai | คาเฟ่ |
| Read in Latin letters | кафэ |
| Translation | cafe |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Khafe came from English; raan khaafae, the "coffeehouse", you have met, while khafe is a place to sit with a dessert and a laptop
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.
- คาเฟ่ ใหม่ อยู่ ใกล้ บ้านкафэ май ю клай банThe new cafe is close to the house
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.
- กาแฟкафэcoffeeThe 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
- 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
- ขอкхоI want; I will takeThe main word of ordering: literally "I ask". "I want coffee" in Thai is kho kafae khrap, and that is politer than a flat "I want". It does not conjugate: I and you say the same kho
- ร้าน อาหารран аханrestaurantLiterally "shop of food". Words are butted together: raan, "shop", plus ahaan, "food". Half of all Thai place names are assembled this way
- ร้าน กาแฟран кафэcoffeehouseThe same "shop" as the restaurant's, only with coffee. There is no separate word for a European-style cafe — the big coffee place and the corner with plastic stools share the name
- เช็ค บิลчек бинthe bill, pleaseEnglish check bill, adopted whole. The colloquial request for the bill; khrap helps a man, kha a woman
- เบียร์бияbeerEnglish beer. It is counted in bottles: song khuat — "two bottles", the classifier here is the bottle
- ไวน์вайwineEnglish wine. Red and white are told apart by color: wai daeng — "wine red". There is little winemaking in Thailand, and wine is an attribute of European restaurants
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 Thai?
Khafe came from English; raan khaafae, the "coffeehouse", you have met, while khafe is a place to sit with a dessert and a laptop
- How do you say “beer” in Thai?
English beer. It is counted in bottles: song khuat — "two bottles", the classifier here is the bottle
- How do you say “coffeehouse” in Thai?
The same "shop" as the restaurant's, only with coffee. There is no separate word for a European-style cafe — the big coffee place and the corner with plastic stools share the name
- How do you say “I want; I will take” in Thai?
The main word of ordering: literally "I ask". "I want coffee" in Thai is kho kafae khrap, and that is politer than a flat "I want". It does not conjugate: I and you say the same kho
- 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 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 Thai?
«คาเฟ่», read “кафэ”. In a live sentence: “คาเฟ่ ใหม่ อยู่ ใกล้ บ้าน” — The new cafe is close to the house. Noun, level A0, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”; written with the characters ค, า, เ, ฟ, ่.
How is “คาเฟ่” 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?
Khafe came from English; raan khaafae, the "coffeehouse", you have met, while khafe is a place to sit with a dessert and a laptop. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.