Goal: you will say ავალaval, ჩავალchaval, შევალsheval, გავალgaval, გადავალgadaval.
Course progress: lesson 65 / 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 emailWeek 10. The steps up to Narikala
From the old town, a steep path climbs to the Narikala fortress. Nino suggests we walk up, take the cable car down, cross the bridge and go into the sulphur baths. In Georgian, every one of those movements has its own little prefix.
Today: the preverbs that give a direction to "go".
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ავალ | aval | I will go up |
| ჩავალ | chaval | I will go down |
| შევალ | sheval | I will go in |
| გავალ | gaval | I will go out |
| გადავალ | gadaval | I will go across, I will cross |
| გამოვალ | gamoval | I will come out |
| ციხე | tsikhe | fortress |
| საბაგირო | sabagiro | cable car |
| ხიდი | khidi | bridge |
| აბანო | abano | bath-house; the sulphur baths |
| სრული | sruli | full, complete |
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 puts the direction into a small prefix on the verb:
| preverb | direction | present | future |
|---|---|---|---|
| ა-a- | up | ავდივარavdivar | ავალaval |
| ჩა-cha- | down | ჩავდივარchavdivar | ჩავალchaval |
| შე-she- | in | შევდივარshevdivar | შევალsheval |
| გა-ga- | out | გავდივარgavdivar | გავალgaval |
| გადა-gada- | across, over | გადავდივარgadavdivar | გადავალgadaval |
To show that the movement comes towards the speaker, add მოmo after the preverb:
| away | towards the speaker |
|---|---|
| ავალ go upaval go up | ამოვალamoval come up |
| ჩავალchaval go down | ჩამოვალchamoval come down |
| შევალ go insheval go in | შემოვალshemoval come in |
| გავალgaval go out | გამოვალgamoval come out |
| გადავალgadaval go across | გადმოვალgadmoval come across (here) |
ჩავალchaval is also used for travelling to another city or region, often towards the coast or a lower place: ბათუმში ჩავალbatumshi chaval, "I'll go (down) to Batumi". And ჩამოვალchamoval is "I'll arrive (here, from somewhere)".
The sulphur baths of Abanotubani, in the old town of Tbilisi, are fed by the hot springs that, according to legend, gave the city its name (lesson 4). Many of them are domed brick buildings below street level: you really go down into them.
The persons work as in lesson 64: ავალaval, ახვალakhval, ავაava, ავალთavalt, ახვალთakhvalt, ავლენavlen.
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 65 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