Goal: you will recite the 33 letters and read headline capitals.
Course progress: lesson 8 / 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 4. Old street signs in Sololaki
Nino takes me for a walk in Sololaki, an old district full of carved wooden balconies. Above a door, a sign is written in tall square letters I have never seen.
"Same letters," says Nino, "just dressed for a party." Today: the whole alphabet, in order, and its capitals.
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ანბანი | anbani | alphabet |
| ასო | aso | letter (of the alphabet) |
| მხედრული | mkhedruli | Mkhedruli, the everyday Georgian script |
| მთავრული | mtavruli | Mtavruli, the capital-style letters |
| აფთიაქი | aptiaki | pharmacy |
| საცხობი | satskhobi | bakery |
| წაიკითხე! | ts'aik'itkhe! | read! (to one friend) |
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.
The cards above show the 33 letters in alphabetical order, with the name of each letter. Learn the order little by little: you need it to look up words in a dictionary. The name of a letter is usually its sound plus a vowel: ბანიbani for ბb, განიgani for გg, ჯანიjani for ჯj.
Ordinary Georgian has no capital letters: names, cities and the first word of a sentence all start with a normal letter. But for titles, signs and logos, Georgians use a second set of tall letters called მთავრულიmtavruli. They are the same 33 letters, drawn larger and all the same height.
| everyday letters | Mtavruli |
|---|---|
| თბილისიtbilisi | ᲗᲑᲘᲚᲘᲡᲘtbilisi |
| პურიp'uri | ᲞᲣᲠᲘp'uri |
| ქართულიkartuli | ᲥᲐᲠᲗᲣᲚᲘkartuli |
Use Mtavruli only to write a whole word or a whole title in capitals. Never use it for the first letter of a name or a sentence.
Georgian has been written with three scripts over the centuries: ასომთავრულიasomtavruli (Asomtavruli), the oldest, found on inscriptions from the 5th century; ნუსხურიnuskhuri (Nuskhuri), used in church manuscripts; and მხედრულიmkhedruli (Mkhedruli), the script of today. In 2016, UNESCO added the living culture of these three writing systems to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
A handy way to learn the order: the first letters, ა ბ გ დ ეa b g d e, follow the order of the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon. Most of the letters for sounds that Greek does not have, such as ღgh, ყq', შsh, ჩch, ცts, ძdz, წts', ჭch', ხkh, ჯj, come towards the end.
When you see a sign in Mtavruli, read it exactly as you would read the everyday letters: ᲐᲤᲗᲘᲐᲥᲘaptiaki is just აფთიაქიaptiaki, a pharmacy.
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 8 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