咖啡馆
kāfēiguǎn
The Chinese phrase for cafe is 咖啡馆 (kāfēiguǎn).
咖啡馆 refers to a small restaurant that primarily sells coffee and light meals.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 咖啡馆 is composed of 咖啡, meaning coffee and 馆, meaning establishment or building.
Which one should you use?
While 咖啡馆 specifically refers to a cafe, 咖啡店 (kāfēidiàn) is a more common and slightly more colloquial way to refer to a coffee shop.
How do you pronounce it?
kāfēiguǎn
Did you know?
- In mainland China, the character 馆 in 咖啡馆 historically referred to government offices or official guesthouses before it became a general term for establishments.
- While 咖啡馆 describes the place, Chinese speakers often use the phrase 喝咖啡 which literally means 'drink coffee' to mean 'meet up for a chat' or 'have a date'.
- The term 咖啡 uses two characters that both contain the 'mouth' radical 口. This is common for words that are purely phonetic and meant to be spoken aloud.
Examples in context
- 汤姆离开了玛丽面前的那家咖啡馆。Tom left the cafe in front of Maria.This sentence is useful for seeing how to describe a cafe's location in relation to a person.Tatoeba #13893628 by jan_OkulaJu, translation #5488076 by Mar1L
- Gunter和Rima在咖啡馆见过面。Gunter and Rima met at the cafe.This sentence is useful for describing people meeting at a cafe.Tatoeba #13071621 by maina, translation #11629540 by Amastan
- 这家咖啡馆的音乐很好听。Zhè jiā kāfēiguǎn de yīnyuè hěn hǎotīng.The music in this cafe sounds great.
Example conversation
Two friends decide where to meet for an afternoon break.
- 志强 Zhiqiang我们去那家咖啡馆坐坐吧。Wǒmen qù nà jiā kāfēiguǎn zuòzuò ba.Let's go sit in that cafe.
- 佳怡 Jiayi好啊，那里的甜点很出名。Hǎo a, nàlǐ de tiándiǎn hěn chūmíng.Sure, the desserts there are very famous.
- 志强 Zhiqiang我也想试试他们的咖啡。Wǒ yě xiǎng shìshì tāmen de kāfēi.I also want to try their coffee.
- 佳怡 Jiayi那我们现在就走吧。Nà wǒmen xiànzài jiù zǒu ba.Then let's go now.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
