Goal: you will read ა ე ი ო უa e i o u and the letters m, n, l, r, s.
Course progress: lesson 2 / 200
LIMBA audio course · Georgian
This written course gives you the grammar, the words and the script. The LIMBA audio course trains your ear and your mouth: you listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect complement to these lessons.
Download the Georgian audio courseOrder form · your download link arrives by emailDay 1. The first sign I can read
In the car, I try to read the shop signs. Every letter looks like a little loop or hook, and they all seem to hang from the same line.
Levan points at a word on a sign and says it slowly: ლიმონიlimoni. Lemon! Ten letters today, and I can already read it.
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| მე | me | I, me |
| ის | is | he, she, it; that |
| რა? | ra? | what? |
| ეს | es | this |
| მამა | mama | father |
| ორი | ori | two |
| სამი | sami | three |
| ლარი | lari | lari (Georgian money) |
| ლიმონი | limoni | lemon |
| ნომერი | nomeri | number |
| ყოჩაღ! | q'ochagh! | well done! |
The pronunciation is written in English letters, following Georgia’s official romanization. Say every letter: a as in father, e as in pet, i as in machine, o as in port, u as in rule; r is rolled; g is always hard; kh as in Scottish loch; gh a soft gargled g, like a French r; sh as in shop; zh like the s in pleasure; ch as in church; ts as in cats; dz as in adze; j as in jam. An apostrophe marks a “popped” consonant, said with a little click in the throat and no puff of air: k’, p’, t’, ts’, ch’, q’ (q’ is made deep in the throat). Without an apostrophe, k, p, t, ts, ch have a small puff of air. Use the Pronunciation button at the top to hide or show it.
Georgian has only five vowels, and each one always sounds the same: აa a, ეe e, იi i, ოo o, უu u. There are no long vowels, no silent letters and no vowels that glide into other vowels as in English "no" or "day". Say them short and clear.
This is the good news of Georgian spelling: you say every word exactly as it is written, letter by letter. ლიმონიlimoni is l-i-m-o-n-i, ნომერიnomeri is n-o-m-e-r-i. Nothing is hidden.
რr is a light rolled r, made with a tap of the tongue behind the top teeth, as in Spanish or Italian. It is never swallowed as in English "car": say it every time you see it.
Mkhedruli letters are round, and they all stand on the same line. Some letters rise above the others and some hang below the line, so look at the height of each letter as well as its shape. Writing each new letter three or four times helps you remember it.
Georgian stress is weak. Do not hit one syllable hard as you would in English "banana": give every vowel almost the same weight. მა-მაma-ma, ლა-რიla-ri, ლი-მო-ნიli-mo-ni.
Careful with your family words: in Georgian მამაmama means "father", and "mother" is დედაdeda, a word you will read in lesson 3. Many learners mix them up at first, because "mama" means mother in so many languages.
The Georgian currency, the lari, is divided into 100 tetri. Lari is an old Georgian word for a hoard or property.
Choose an answer for each question, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
Well done! Lesson 2 is ticked on your course map.
Say your answer out loud, write it down, then open the model answer.
Lesson finished? Now train your ear
This written course gives you the grammar, the words and the script. The LIMBA audio course trains your ear and your mouth: you listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect complement to these lessons.
Download the Georgian audio courseOrder form · your download link arrives by email