Basic drinks and food

A good part of social life in Euskal Herria revolves around the taberna (the bar). Knowing the basic drinks and food in Basque will open doors 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. It comes in several forms:

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

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

Other drinks

Basque	English
ura	the water
zumoa	juice
esnea	the milk
ardoa	wine
ardo gorria	red wine
ardo zuria	white wine
garagardoa	beer
zuritoa	short draught (small, typical beer)
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 Euskadi.

Basic food at the bar

To go with what you’re drinking:

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

The article -a

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

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

When you order “one”, the -a disappears and bat (“one”) comes in:

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

In lesson 3 you’ll see this in detail. For now, memorize the forms with -a so you can recognize them on the bar’s menu.