Кроме чая, я хочу кофе.

Besides tea, I want coffee.

Breakdown of Кроме чая, я хочу кофе.

• я: I
• хотеть: to want
• чай: the tea
• кофе: the coffee

Questions & Answers about Кроме чая, я хочу кофе.

What does кроме mean here?

Here кроме means besides, apart from, or in addition to.

So Кроме чая, я хочу кофе means something like:

• Besides tea, I want coffee.
• Apart from tea, I want coffee too.

It does not normally mean instead of tea.
If you wanted instead of tea, Russian would usually use вместо:

• Вместо чая я хочу кофе. = Instead of tea, I want coffee.

Why is чай changed to чая?

Because кроме is a preposition that requires the genitive case.

So:

• чай = nominative dictionary form
• чая = genitive singular

This is a very common pattern:

• кроме чая = besides tea
• кроме кофе = besides coffee
• кроме меня = besides me

So the learner-friendly rule is:

• кроме + genitive

Does кроме always take the genitive?