Basic drinks and foods

A good part of social life in Euskal Herria happens at the taberna (the bar). Knowing the basic drinks and foods in Basque will open doors for you right away: a group of friends, a visit to a new town, a poteo. Let’s start with the vocabulary.

Coffee and its variations

Coffee is probably what you’ll order most often. It comes in several forms:

Basque	English
kafea	coffee (generic)
kafe hutsa	black coffee (literally: “pure/empty coffee”)
kafesnea	coffee with milk (from kafe + esne)
kafe ebakia	cortado coffee (ebaki = “cut”)
kafe deskafeinatua	decaffeinated coffee
infusioa	herbal tea
tea	tea

Kafesne literally means “coffee-milk”. Basque forms many compound words this way, without a hyphen and with the main word at the end.

Other drinks

Basque	English
ura	water
zumoa	juice
esnea	milk
ardoa	wine
ardo gorria	red wine
ardo zuria	white wine
garagardoa	beer
zuritoa	small draft beer (typical)
sagardoa	cider
txakolina	txakoli (Basque white wine)
patxarana	pacharán

Three curious words: sagardo (cider) = sagar (apple) + ardo (wine); garagardo (beer) = garagar (barley) + ardo; txakolina is a young, light white wine, a hallmark of the Basque Country.

Basic bar foods

To go with your drink:

Basque	English
ogia	bread
gazta	cheese
urdaiazpikoa	ham
tortilla	tortilla (potato omelette)
patata frijituak	french fries
gozokia	sweet (generic)
txokolatea	chocolate

The article -a

Almost all these words have -a at the end when they appear in a “neutral” form in a sentence: it’s the article “the”.

• Ardoa gustatzen zait. — I like the wine.
• Ura nahi dut. — I want water.

When you ask for “one”, the -a disappears and bat (“one/a/an”) is used:

• Kafe bat, mesedez. — A coffee, please.
• Garagardo bat. — A beer.

You’ll see this in detail in lesson 3. For now, memorize the forms with -a to recognize them on the bar menu.