café
/ka.fe/
The French phrase for coffee shop is café.
A café is a small establishment where people go to buy and drink coffee and other beverages. In France, a café is often a place where one can also sit to have a light meal, a drink or even a glass of wine, rather than just a specialty coffee house. If you want to drink your coffee or tea on-site, you can use the phrase sur place. If you want to take your coffee or tea to go, use à emporter.
Which one should you use?
The word café can mean both the establishment (coffee shop) and the beverage (coffee) itself, depending on the context.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word café is a masculine noun, so it uses the masculine articles le or un.
How do you pronounce it?
/ka.fe/
Did you know?
- At a French café, the price of a coffee is often higher if you sit at a table than if you drink it standing at the bar.
- The word café traveled from Arabic qahwa to Ottoman Turkish kahve and then through Italian caffè before entering French.
- In France, you will often see the term café-tabac on a sign, indicating the shop sells both coffee and tobacco products.
Examples in context
- Où est le café ?Where is the coffee shop?This sentence is useful for asking for the location of the café.Tatoeba #1594798 by Petrus, translation #62268 by CK
- Ce café est confortable.This coffee shop is cozy.This sentence is useful for describing the atmosphere of the café.Tatoeba #1335932 by sacredceltic, translation #59717 by CK
- Il promit de le rencontrer au café.He promised to meet him at the coffee shop.This sentence is useful for describing a meeting at the café.Tatoeba #859105 by sacredceltic, translation #855740 by piksea
- 14 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Manon and Hugo are deciding where to meet for a break.
- ManonHugo, tu veux aller au café ?Hugo, do you want to go to the coffee shop?
- HugoOui, c'est une bonne idée.Yes, that is a good idea.
- ManonQuel café préfères-tu ?Which coffee shop do you prefer?
- HugoAllons au petit café en face.Let's go to the little coffee shop across the street.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry café, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries café, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
