The Georgian Language

Just a blog to document my learning of Georgian and hopefully be of use to others learning the language

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Georgian Conversation Vocabulary

Note: whenever თ is in parenthesis after a word/phrase, that indicates the formal or polite form of the word. Formal/polite forms are generally only used when in professional situations or when talking to someone older than you. If you are ever confused or unsure, just use the polite form. Also, შენ is the informal ‘you’ and თქვენ is the formal ‘you’, like the Spanish tú and usted or Russian ты and вы.

გამარჯობა(თ)[gamarjoba(t)]-hello

დილა მშვიდობისა[dial mshvidobisa]-good morning

შუადღე მშვიდობისა[shuadghe mshvidobisa]-good afternoon

საღამო მშვიდობისა[saghamo mshvidobisa]-good evening

ღამე მშვიდობისა[ghame mshvidobisa]-good night

ძილი ნებისა[dzili nebisa]-good night

როგორ ხარ(თ)?[rogor khar(t)?]-How are you?

კარგად, შენ/თკქენ?[kargad, shen/tkven?]-Good/well, and you?

მეც კარგად, გმადლობ(თ)[mets kargad, gmadlob(t)]-I’m good too, thanks.

სასიამოვნოა თქვენი გაცნობა[sasiamovnoa tkven gatsnoba]-pleased to meet you

ნახვამდის[nakhvamdis]-goodbye/see you later

ხვალამდე[khvalamde]-see you tomorrow

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Georgian Pronunciation

Every letter is pronounced(there are no mute/silent letters)

There are no capital letters

There is a very light stress on the first syllable in every word

Georgian is written from left to right

There are no articles(the/a/an)

Nouns do not have a grammatical genders

All r’s are rolled r’s 

 Aspirated vs. Unaspirated Consonants

Unaspirated consonants are the hardest to pronounce, and the only way I can describe them without audio is as sharper versions of their aspirated equivalent. In Georgian there are five sets of aspirated(left) and unaspirated(right) consonants.

თ vs. ტ (t vs. t’)

ქ vs. კ (k vs. k’)

ჩ vs. ჭ (ch vs. ch’)

ფ vs. პ (p vs. p’)

ც vs. წ (ts vs. ts’)

Other Letters

ღ-the only way I can describe it is as a French r. 

ყ-really hard to pronounce, kind of like კ but also not

Wikipedia has a page for the IPA/pronunciations for the Georgian alphabet, so if you’re having trouble with any of this go there. The only other audio I know of for Georgian is on the Georgian courses on memrise(which I highly recommend to help with pronunciation, but don’t get too caught up in it being perfect, it will get better with practice)

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The Georgian Alphabet(მხედრული)

Letter/IPA/English Equivalent/English Example

ა      ɑ     a     bra

ბ      b     b     bug     

გ      ɡ     g     gate

დ     d     d     dog

ე      ɛ     e      bell   

ვ      w     w, v    wait, vowel

ზ      z     z     zebra

თ     tʰ     t     towel

ი       i     i     peel      

კ      kʼ     k’   sharp k

ლ      l     l     letter

მ      m     m    more

ნ      n     n     never

ო     ɔ     o     hope

პ      pʼ    p’    sharp p

ჟ      ʒ     zh    measure

რ      r     r     road

ს      s     s     side

ტ      tʼ     t’    sharp t

უ      u     u     moose

ფ      pʰ     p    pet

ქ       kʰ     k    cat

ღ      ʁ     gh    French r 

ყ      qʼ     q’    sharp q

შ      ʃ      sh    sheet

ჩ      t͡ʃʰ    ch    choose

ც      t͡s     ts     tsunami

ძ      d͡z     ds    pads

წ      t͡sʼ     ts’    ts’

ჭ      t͡ʃʼ     ch’    itch

ხ      χ      kh, x  Russian x, Scottish loch  

ჯ     d͡ʒ     j        june

ჰ      h     h       how

It’s hard to explain how some of the letters are pronounce, for more help use these websites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Georgian

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/georgian2.htm

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9602421