Guides › The Georgian alphabet and pronunciation, for beginners

The Georgian alphabet and pronunciation, for beginners

Georgian has an alphabet of its own. It is called Mkhedruli, it has 33 letters, and it is one of the friendliest writing systems a learner could ask for: every letter stands for exactly one sound, every sound has exactly one letter, and there are no silent letters, no letter pairs with special values and no capital letters. Once you know the 33 shapes, you can read any Georgian word aloud, even one you have never seen.

The shapes are new, so give yourself a week or two of short practice to get comfortable with them. The sounds take a little longer, mainly because Georgian has a few that English doesn't: a set of tight, popping consonants called ejectives, and three made at the very back of the throat. This guide walks through every letter, the sounds that are new, the consonant clusters, the letters that look alike and where each letter sits on the writing lines, with words you can tap to hear.

The table below also gives each letter's name, the way Georgians say it when spelling a word out loud. Where this guide spells a Georgian word in Latin letters, it uses Georgia's national romanization, in which an apostrophe marks an ejective (k', t', p', ts', ch', q').

Start with the word you'll use most: გამარჯობა▶ (hello).

The 33 letters

Five vowels, always pure

Georgian has five vowels, ა ე ი ო უ, and they are the easy part. Each one has a single, steady sound: a as in father, e as in bed, i as in see, o as in or, u as in boot. There is no long and short, and no vowel ever fades to the uh that English puts in unstressed syllables.

Two things to unlearn from English. First, don't glide: ო is one pure o, not the oh-oo of English go, and ე is one pure e, not the ay-ee of day. Second, two vowels side by side are two separate syllables, never one blended sound. ჩაი▶ (tea) is cha·i, two beats, and ია▶ (violet) is i·a.

This is why Georgian spelling is so dependable: with no vowel pairs and no vowel length, a word has exactly as many syllables as it has vowels.

• ანბანი▶alphabet: three clear vowels, a·n·ba·ni
• ეკლესია▶church: ek·le·si·a, four syllables, one per vowel
• ჩაი▶tea: cha·i, two syllables, not one
• ოჯახი▶family: o·ja·khi, the o pure and short
• უბანი▶neighbourhood: u·ba·ni
• ბებია▶grandmother: be·bi·a, three syllables

With a puff or without: the three-way consonants

This is the heart of Georgian pronunciation. Where English has two kinds of k-like sound (k and g), Georgian has three, and the same goes for t, p, ts and ch. Each set has one letter said with a puff of air (as English k, t and p are at the start of a word), one ejective, with no puff and a tight pop from the throat, and one voiced letter.

The puffed consonants are no trouble: ქ, თ, ფ, ც and ჩ are what you already say in kite, top, pin, cats and church. The voiced ones are English g, d, b, dz and j. The new ones are the ejectives, marked in romanization with an apostrophe: კ (k'), ტ (t'), პ (p'), წ (ts') and ჭ (ch').

To make an ejective, close your throat as if you were about to lift something heavy or hold your breath, shape the consonant with your mouth, then let the mouth go while the throat stays shut. The air trapped between the two pops out: a small, crisp click with no breath behind it. Only after that do you breathe out for the vowel.

The difference matters because it changes the word. ქარი▶ (wind) and კარი▶ (door) sound the same to an untrained English ear and are completely different words to a Georgian.

• ქარი▶wind

  კარი▶door
  ქ with a puff, კ ejective; different words
• ქართული▶Georgian (language)

  კატა▶cat
  ქ with a puff, then two ejectives in k'at'a
• თბილისი▶Tbilisi

  ტყე▶forest
  თ with a puff, ტ ejective
• ფული▶money

  პური▶bread
  ფ with a puff, პ ejective
• ცა▶sky

  წყალი▶water
  ც with a puff, წ ejective
• ჩაი▶tea

  ჭიქა▶glass
  ჩ with a puff, ჭ ejective
• გამარჯობა▶hello

  ოჯახი▶family
  the voiced გ and ჯ, plain English g and j

A quick self-check: hold a sheet of paper or the back of your hand close to your mouth. ქ, თ and ფ move the paper with a puff of air; კ, ტ and პ should leave it still.

The ejectives are the sounds most worth drilling, because the puffed ones come for free and the voiced ones are English. Say კატა▶ (cat) until both k'-sounds pop cleanly, then პური▶ (bread) and წყალი▶ (water).

ყ, ღ and ხ: the letters from the back of the throat

Three letters are made further back in the mouth than anything in English, against the soft part of the roof of the mouth near the throat.

*ხ (kh) is the easiest: the scraped ch of Scottish loch or German Bach*, breath pushed through a narrow gap at the back of the mouth. You'll meet it in the two most famous dishes, ხინკალი▶ (khinkali) and ხაჭაპური▶ (khachapuri).

*ღ (gh) is the same scrape with the voice switched on: a soft gargle, close to a French or German r. Hear it in ღვინო▶ (wine) and ძაღლი▶ (dog). Don't let it become a plain g*; it never fully blocks the air.

*ყ (q') is an ejective made at the very back, like კ but with the tongue much further back, against the uvula. It is the hardest Georgian sound for most learners and also one of the most common, in ყველი▶ (cheese), ყავა▶ (coffee) and წყალი▶ (water). Start from a კ, slide the back of your tongue as far back as it will go, and keep the throat closed until the pop. A rough ყ is still understood; just don't replace it with a plain k*, because კ is a different letter.

• ხინკალი▶khinkali: ხ (kh), then an ejective კ
• ხილი▶fruit

  ხუთი▶five
  ხ at the start
• ღვინო▶wine

  ძაღლი▶dog
  the voiced gargle ღ
• საღამო▶evening: ღ between vowels, soft and short
• ყველი▶cheese

  ყავა▶coffee
  ყ (q') at the start
• ყურძენი▶grapes: q'urdzeni, ყ at the start
• ტყე▶forest: two ejectives back to back, t'q'e

Consonant clusters: no vowel sneaks in

Georgian is famous for stacking consonants, and the capital is the first example everyone meets: თბილისი▶ (Tbilisi) begins with tb, no vowel between them. English speakers tend to slip in a little uh (Tuh-bilisi); the trick is to say the t and move straight into the b on one breath.

Most clusters are two or three letters, and they are easier than they look because each letter keeps its one sound: read them one after another, quickly, without adding anything. ზღვა▶ (sea) is z-gh-v-a, ბავშვი▶ (child) is bav-shvi, მწვანე▶ (green) is mts'-va-ne.

One small adjustment: ვ next to other consonants comes out lighter than an English v, closer to a w, as in გვარი▶ (surname) and ზღვა▶. Let it happen naturally; don't force a hard v.

• თბილისი▶Tbilisi: tb, no vowel between
• მთა▶mountain

  ტბა▶lake
  mta, t'ba
• ზღვა▶sea: zghva, three consonants, one syllable
• ბავშვი▶child: bavshvi, with the light ვ
• რძე▶milk

  ძმა▶brother
  rdze, dzma
• ცხრა▶nine: tskhra, three consonants before the vowel
• მწვანე▶green: mts'vane
• ვარსკვლავი▶star: varsk'vlavi, with the cluster rsk'vl in the middle

Stress and rhythm: keep it even

Good news after the ejectives: stress is not something you need to worry about in Georgian. It is weak, it never changes the meaning of a word, and the writing doesn't mark it because it doesn't need to. Descriptions vary, but most put a light stress on the first syllable of short words and on the third syllable from the end of longer ones.

What matters more is rhythm. English squeezes unstressed syllables and swallows their vowels; Georgian gives every syllable roughly the same weight and every vowel its full value. გამარჯობა▶ (hello) is five even beats, ga·mar·jo·ba, not guh-MAR-juh-buh.

So when in doubt, say each syllable clearly and evenly, with a slight lean toward the start of the word. That alone makes you sound noticeably more Georgian.

• გამარჯობა▶hello: ga·mar·jo·ba, every syllable clear
• მადლობა▶thank you: mad·lo·ba
• საქართველო▶Georgia (the country): sa·kar·tve·lo
• ნახვამდის▶goodbye: na·khvam·dis
• უკაცრავად▶excuse me: u·k'ats·ra·vad, the vowels never fade

Letters that look alike

Mkhedruli is all loops and stems, so at first a few letters are as hard to tell apart as berries on the same branch. They sort themselves out quickly if you look at the whole shape rather than the loop alone, and above all at where the letter sits: whether it stays in the middle band, rises above it or drops below the line (more on that in the next section).

The groups below are the ones learners mix up most. Compare them side by side, then look for each letter in a word you already know.

• დედა▶mother

  ლობიო▶lobio
  დ and ლ
• ყველი▶cheese

  უბანი▶neighbourhood
  ყ and უ
• ვაშლი▶apple

  კატა▶cat
  ვ and კ
• ნიგოზი▶walnut

  ხინკალი▶khinkali
  ნ and ხ
• ცა▶sky

  წყალი▶water
  ც and წ

Writing on the lines: high, low and middle letters

Georgian handwriting sits on four lines. Every letter fills the middle band between the two middle lines; some letters also rise above it, some drop below the bottom line, and three do both. Learning which is which helps you tell look-alikes apart and makes your handwriting look Georgian from the first day.

Georgian is written left to right, with spaces between words and the same full stops, commas and question marks as English. The letters stand apart from each other; they are not joined up like English cursive. And there are no capital letters: a name, the first word of a sentence and a title all use the same letters as everything else.

Handwriting differs from print in a few small ways: the little tick at the end of ზ, ო and ხ is usually left off, and ჯ is written as a straight vertical stroke with a crossbar rather than the slanted printed form.

Common mistakes for English speakers

A few habits are worth unlearning early.

• კ

  ქ
  Don't make them the same. კ, ტ, პ, წ and ჭ are ejectives with no puff of air; ქ, თ, ფ, ც and ჩ have the puff. Swapping them changes the word: კარი▶ is a door, ქარი▶ is the wind.
• ყNot a plain k. It is made far back in the throat, and კ is a different letter.
• ღ

  ხ
  Not g and not h. Both scrape at the back of the mouth; ხ with breath only, ღ with voice.
• ოKeep it one steady vowel. Don't slide it into oh-oo as in English go; the same goes for ე, which never becomes ay.
• აEvery vowel keeps its full sound. Never let one fade to uh: მადლობა▶ ends in a clear a, not -buh.
• თბილისი▶Don't add a vowel to break up a cluster. tb, not Tuh-b; the same for მთა▶ (mountain) and ზღვა▶ (sea).
• რTap or roll it with the tip of the tongue, every time, including at the end of a syllable.
• ჩაი▶Two vowels are two syllables. cha·i, not the single English chai.
• ჯ

  ჭ
  ჯ is the English j of jam; ჭ is an ejective ch, tight and voiceless. Don't let either slide into the other.

Tips

• Learn the letters in small groups and read real words with each group right away; a letter you've seen in დედა▶ (mother) sticks far better than one on a chart.
• Write every new letter by hand a few times, on four lines, and say its name as you go. Shape and sound learned together are twice as hard to forget.
• Drill the puff test with your hand in front of your mouth: ქართული▶ should puff, კატა▶ should not.
• Read menus. ხინკალი▶, ხაჭაპური▶, ლობიო▶ and ღვინო▶ are among the most rewarding words you'll ever decode, and between them they cover ხ, კ, ჭ, პ, ღ and ვ.
• Add a Georgian keyboard to your phone early. The common layouts put most letters on their Latin counterparts (ა on A, ბ on B), so typing comes quickly.

Questions