Goal: you will pronounce თ ფ ქ ც ჩt p k ts ch with a puff of air.
Course progress: lesson 4 / 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 2. The metro map of Tbilisi
Nino, the daughter of my host family, takes me on the metro for the first time. The station names are written in Georgian letters only, so I read them slowly, letter by letter.
Five new letters today, and all five come with a little puff of air.
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| თბილისი | tbilisi | Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia |
| ქალაქი | kalaki | city, town |
| ქუჩა | kucha | street |
| მეტრო | met'ro | metro, underground |
| ფული | puli | money |
| ცა | tsa | sky |
| ჩაი | chai | tea |
| თუ | tu | or (in a question); if |
| თუ შეიძლება | tu sheidzleba | please (literally "if it is possible") |
| ჩვენ | chven | we |
| თქვენ | tkven | you (several people, or one person politely) |
| ქართული | kartuli | Georgian (the language; Georgian as an adjective) |
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.
თt, ფp, ქk, ცts and ჩch are pronounced with a small puff of air after them, like the English t, p, k at the start of "top", "pot", "kit". Hold your hand in front of your mouth and say ჩაიchai: you should feel the air.
ფp is a p with a puff of air. It is not an f: ფულიpuli (money) sounds like "puli", with a breathy p. Georgian has no f sound of its own; in foreign words, Georgians usually replace f with ფp.
Each of these five letters has a twin without a puff of air, made with a little pop in the throat. You will meet the twins in lesson 5. In the Latin letters, the breathy ones are written without an apostrophe and the popped ones with one:
| breathy (this lesson) | popped (lesson 5) |
|---|---|
| თ tt t | ტ t't' t' |
| ფ pp p | პ p'p' p' |
| ქ kk k | კ k'k' k' |
| ც tsts ts | წ ts'ts' ts' |
| ჩ chch ch | ჭ ch'ch' ch' |
In a question, თუtu means "or": ჩაი თუ ყავაchai tu q'ava? "Tea or coffee?". The same word also means "if": that is why თუ შეიძლებაtu sheidzleba, word for word "if it is possible", means "please".
The name Tbilisi comes from the Old Georgian word for "warm", because of the hot sulphur springs that still flow in the old town. The modern word for warm is თბილიtbili. Until 1936 the city was known abroad as Tiflis.
თქვენtkven means "you" when you speak to several people, and also when you speak politely to one person, like French "vous". With one friend, you say შენshen (lesson 6).
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 4 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