LingoflyGeorgian
Georgian — Kartvelian family — no relatives outside it, about 3.7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: Mkhedruli — 33 letters with no capitals, plus the Mtavruli heading style. This site has 4042 words and 33 letters with audio.
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Demo language: Georgian
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მადლობა
madloba
thank you
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მადლობა
madloba
- hi to you too
- you're welcome
- hello
- thank you
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მადლობა
thank you
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დიდი ___!
Thank you very much!
- გამარჯობა · gamarjoba
- გაგიმარჯოს · gagimarjos
- არაფრის · arapris
- მადლობა · madloba
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მადლობა
thank you
Two checks complete
მადლობა
thank you
This is a choice based on text. Conversation and remembering over time still need practice and checking.
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Answers stay on this page. Statistics include the demo stage, overall result, interface language and saved counter consent choice, without answer text or a profile.
Where to start
A young course: the words, the lessons and the recordings are all here, but a native speaker has not read it end to end yet. Spot a rough edge? Tell us and we will fix it.
- →Georgian alphabetAll letters with sound
- →Georgian wordsBy topic and alphabetically
- →PhrasebookPhrases ready to use
- →GrammarRules without jargon
- →Reading textsShort texts with translation
- →How to readThe writing course from zero
- →TransliterationThe table, both ways
- →PronunciationWhat you hear and what is hard
- →From scratchWhere to start, and in what order
- →How long to studyAn honest estimate, with caveats
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- გამარჯობაgamarjobahelloLiterally 'victory': Georgians wish you victory rather than health. One greeting serves both formal and friendly situations
- გაგიმარჯოსgagimarjoshi to you tooOnly said in reply to gamarjoba, never first. The same 'victory' root turned back: 'may victory be yours'
- მადლობაmadlobathank youFrom madli — grace, favor. Doubled into didi madloba it simply means a big thank you
- გმადლობთgmadlobtI am gratefulThe polite form of madloba: the -t on the end is the respectful 'you'. Use it with elders and strangers
- თუ შეიძლებაtu sheidzlebapleaseLiterally 'if it is possible' — the everyday please at a counter or in a cafe. A formal request uses გთხოვთ (gtkhovt), 'I ask you'
- არაფრისaraprisyou're welcomeLiterally 'for nothing' — the standard reply to madloba, in the same spirit as 'not at all'
- ნახვამდისnakhvamdisgoodbyeFrom nakhva, seeing: literally 'until we see each other again'. Works at any hour, with anyone
- როგორ ხარ?rogor khar?how are you?Khar means 'you are': the linking verb stands as its own word here, not an ending
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is გამარჯობა (gamarjoba) — hello.
- What is this word?
It is ჰო (ho) — yeah.
- What is this word?
It is ძალიან კარგად (dzalian kargad) — very well.
- What is this word?
It is მე მქვია (me mkvia) — my name is.
- What is this word?
It is თუ შეიძლება (tu sheidzleba) — please.
Curiosities in Georgian
Mkhedruli has no capital letters: a name, the start of a sentence and the name of the country are written like everything else. To set a word apart you reach for other means — letter-spacing or quotation marks.
Unicode Standard, the chapter “Georgian”; Howard Aronson, «Georgian: A Reading Grammar», 1990
About the language
| Native name | ქართული (kartuli) · kartuli |
| Official in | Georgia |
| Also spoken in | Russia, Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Iran |
| How many speakers | about 3.7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue) |
| Family | Kartvelian family — no relatives outside it |
| Script | Mkhedruli — 33 letters with no capitals, plus the Mtavruli heading style |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: consonant clusters and a verb that agrees with several persons at once.
Easy: no gender, no capital letters, weak stress that never trips you up.
What people most often take it up for: moving to Tbilisi and Batumi, work, wine and mountains.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the longer the gap before reviewing it can be. To hold it for a week, review it after a day or two; to hold it for a year, after about three or four weeks.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20–40% of the target interval when you need to remember for a week, and 5–10% when for a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- A material reward promised for doing a task lowers the wish to take it up of your own accord once the reward is gone. Praise for what was done, on the contrary, keeps that wish alive.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. A material reward promised in advance and the time later spent on the task by free choice: d = −0.44 for finishing, −0.40 for taking part, −0.28 for performance; a reward unrelated to the task, −0.14, not significant. Praise: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Georgian?
With the script: 33 letters are worked through in a week or two, and after that words stop being pictures.
How many people speak Georgian?
About 3.7 million speakers — an estimate; source: Ethnologue. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Georgian hard?
Consonant clusters and a verb that agrees with several persons at once. At the same time, no gender, no capital letters, weak stress that never trips you up.
Where is Georgian spoken?
An official language in: Georgia. Noticeable communities: Russia, Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Iran.
Is Georgian in Duolingo?
No. As of September 18, 2026, Duolingo’s catalogue has no such course at all, from any language. We have Georgian in full: 4042 words, with audio, the script explained, a phrasebook and grammar in plain words.