Kaffee

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkafe/ (overall the most common variant)
  • IPA(key): /kaˈfeː/ (Austrian; occasionally elsewhere, but widely perceived as snobbish)
  • IPA(key): /ˈkafə/ (parts of northern and eastern Germany)
  • Audio(file)
  • audio (Austria)(file)
  • Hyphenation: Kaf‧fee
  • Rhymes: -afe, -afə, -eː
  • Homophone: Café (only according to the Austrian pronunciation of Kaffee)

Noun

Kaffee m (genitive Kaffees, plural Kaffees)

  1. coffee (beverage)
  2. afternoon coffee, coffee and cake (traditional afternoon meal in northern and central Germany, particularly on Sundays)
    Wir fahren am Sonntag zum Kaffee zur Oma.
    On Sunday, we go to Grandma's for coffee [and cake].

Usage notes

  • (beverage): As with most beverages in German, the plural Kaffees is only used to mean “several kinds of coffee”. Otherwise the singular form is used: Zwei Kaffee, bitte! – “Two coffees, please!”
  • (meal): The afternoon meal traditionally does involve coffee, but the word is still applicable if one prefers other beverages, such as tea. It would not be all too extraordinary to say: Wir trinken meistens Tee zum Kaffee. (Literally: “We usually have tea for coffee.”)

Declension

Synonyms

  • (meal) Kaffeetrinken, Kaffee und Kuchen

Derived terms

Further reading

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