Georgian
ქართული ანბანი
Alphabet · 33 letters
One letter per sound, vowels included, written in the line like consonants. This is the Latin system: the simplest to learn, and the quickest to pay off.
What pays off on the road
- Only one country writes it: recognising its letters, all of one height, is enough — it is Georgia.
- ქუჩა street, გამზირი avenue, მხარე region: three words that cut up a sign.
- Reading a name: the five vowels first — five letters, and more than four signs in ten of our names.
How it works
Thirty-three letters, no capitals
Georgian has no case: the same sign opens a sentence and ends a word. That is one script less to learn, and a detail that shows — a Georgian text has no relief, every letter is the same size.
One letter, one sound, with no exception at all: what is written is read, and what is read is written. Few scripts keep that promise so completely.
The pairs: aspirated and ejective
ქ and კ are two "k"s. The first is aspirated, like ours; the second is flung with a catch of the throat, a sound Europe does not have. There are five such pairs, ten letters out of thirty-three.
You cannot tell them apart by ear without training, and you do not need to: signs transliterate them the same. Knowing they exist simply saves you wondering why two signs give the same sound.
Five vowels, and stacked consonants
Five vowels only — a, e, i, o, u — and Georgian does not use them much. მთა, "mountain", is written with three consonants and one vowel; ზღვა, "sea", lines up four.
This is no dictionary curiosity: place names are full of them, and a run of consonants you think you have misread is most often perfectly normal.
Cheat sheet
The five vowels
Five, and Georgian does not use them much: მთა, "mountain", has one for three consonants.
| ა | an | a | the a in "father" |
| ე | en | e | the e in "bed" |
| ი | in | i | the i in "machine" |
| ო | on | o | the o in "pot" |
| უ | un | u | the oo in "food" |
The aspirated and ejective pairs
Ten letters for five sounds. The first of each pair is pronounced like ours; the second is flung with a catch of the throat, a sound Europe does not have. Both transliterate the same on signs.
| ქ | kan | k | an aspirated k |
| კ | kan ejectif | k | the same k, flung with a catch of the throat |
| ფ | par | p | an aspirated p |
| პ | par ejectif | p | the same p, flung with a catch of the throat |
| თ | tan | t | an aspirated t |
| ტ | tan ejectif | t | the same t, flung with a catch of the throat |
| ც | tsan | ts | an aspirated ts |
| წ | tsan ejectif | ts | the same ts, flung with a catch of the throat |
| ჩ | chin | ch | an aspirated ch |
| ჭ | chin ejectif | ch | the same ch, flung with a catch of the throat |
The other consonants
Eighteen letters confused with nothing. Three have no English equivalent: ღ is a throaty r, ყ a k from the back of the throat, ხ the Spanish jota.
| ბ | ban | b | the b in "bat" |
| გ | gan | g | the hard g in "garden" |
| დ | don | d | the d in "door" |
| ვ | vin | v | the v in "very" |
| ზ | zen | z | the z in "zone" |
| ლ | las | l | the l in "law" |
| მ | man | m | the m in "man" |
| ნ | nar | n | the n in "no" |
| ჟ | zhan | zh | the s in "measure" |
| რ | rae | r | a rolled r |
| ს | san | s | the s in "sack" |
| ღ | ghan | gh | a throaty r, like the French r |
| ყ | qar | q | a k from the back of the throat |
| შ | shin | sh | the sh in "shop" |
| ძ | dzil | dz | the ds in "adsorb" |
| ხ | khan | kh | the Spanish jota |
| ჯ | jan | j | the j in "judge" |
| ჰ | hae | h | the aspirated English h |
The words on signs
| საქართველო | sakartvelo | Georgia |
| თბილისი | tbilisi | Tbilisi |
| ქუჩა | kucha | street |
| გამზირი | gamziri | avenue |
| მოედანი | moedani | square |
| ქალაქი | kalaki | city |
| სოფელი | sopeli | village |
| მხარე | mkhare | region |
| ცენტრი | tsentri | centre |
| ჩრდილოეთი | chrdiloeti | north |
| სამხრეთი | samkhreti | south |
| აღმოსავლეთი | aghmosavleti | east |
| დასავლეთი | dasavleti | west |
| მთა | mta | mountain |
| ზღვა | zghva | sea |
| მდინარე | mdinare | river |
| სადგური | sadguri | station |
| აფთიაქი | aptiaki | pharmacy |
| ბანკი | banki | bank |
| ეკლესია | eklesia | church |
| პოლიცია | politsia | police |