Lingoflyა — ani
«ani» is a vowel of the Georgian script, read as “a”. A clean 'a' as in 'father'. For example, in the word “მამა” (mama) — dad. The Georgian alphabet has 33 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “გამარჯობა” (gamarjoba) — hello.
In short
| Character | ა |
| Name | ani |
| Sound | a |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 1st of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, after it comes მ, appears in roughly every other word on this site.
How to type ა
- On a phone: add the Georgian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+10D0 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 10D0.
- Unicode code point: U+10D0. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A clean 'a' as in 'father'
Other written forms
The same character is written differently on a shop sign and in a book. Here are all the forms you may meet.
| Form | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mtavruli | Ა | the display style: signs, headings, all-caps lettering |
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
The character in the “five vowels” group
Exactly five sounds, all pure: no reduction, and none of them softens a neighboring consonant.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «ani» it is “a”, as in the word “მამა” (mama)), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 33 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Georgian character ა read?
As “a” — it is a vowel of the Georgian script. A clean 'a' as in 'father'. For example, in the word “მამა” (mama) — dad.
What is the letter ა called?
Ani. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Georgian script: it is called “ani” and reads as “a”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.