Goal: you will read ღ ხ შ ჟ ჯ ძ ჰgh kh sh zh j dz h and finish the alphabet.
Course progress: lesson 6 / 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 3. Lunch: my first khachapuri
Lunch at home with Nino and her brother Giorgi. On the table: a round golden bread full of melted cheese. Its name has three of today's letters.
Seven letters today, and the alphabet is complete. From now on, you can read any Georgian word aloud.
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ხაჭაპური | khach'ap'uri | khachapuri (bread baked with cheese) |
| ღვინო | ghvino | wine |
| შენ | shen | you (one person you know well) |
| ძმა | dzma | brother |
| ჟურნალი | zhurnali | magazine |
| ჯერ | jer | first; yet, still |
| ხინკალი | khink'ali | khinkali (Georgian dumplings) |
| ძალიან | dzalian | very |
| გემრიელი | gemrieli | tasty, delicious |
| ღამე | ghame | night |
| ხილი | khili | fruit |
| ძაღლი | dzaghli | dog |
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.
ხkh is the rough sound of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach", made by rubbing air at the back of the mouth. ღgh is the same place but with the voice on, a soft gargle like the French or German r. Compare:
შsh is English sh, ჟzh is the zh sound of "pleasure", ჯj is the j of "jam" and ძdz is a d and a z said together, dz. None of them causes problems: just say them as written.
ჰh is a plain English h. It is the last letter of the alphabet and one of the rarest: you meet it mostly in ჰოho (yeah) and in a few verb forms.
Put ძალიანdzalian before a word to make it stronger: ძალიან გემრიელიdzalian gemrieli (very tasty), ძალიან დიდიdzalian didi (very big). And remember the little -აa for "is": გემრიელიაgemrielia = it is tasty.
Khachapuri comes in many regional shapes. The round one filled with cheese is the Imeretian khachapuri. The famous boat-shaped one with an egg yolk in the middle is the Adjarian khachapuri, from the Black Sea coast.
შენshen is the "you" you use with one friend, a child or a family member. With strangers, older people and several people, use თქვენtkven (lesson 4).
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 6 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