How many: -ები, pairs and counting words
There is one plural in Georgian, the ending -ები, and that was covered in the home unit. What matters here is the reverse: the places where English puts a plural and Georgian does not. There are three, and all three meet you on your first day in a shop. For example: “ორი ბილეთი, თუ შეიძლება” — Two tickets, please. A rule from the Georgian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There is one plural in Georgian, the ending -ები, and that was covered in the home unit. What matters here is the reverse: the places where English puts a plural and Georgian does not. There are three, and all three meet you on your first day in a shop.
First: after a number the noun stays singular. ორი ბილეთი (ori bileti) — two tickets, ხუთი ვაშლი (khuti vashli) — five apples, ათი ლარი (ati lari) — ten lari. The number has already said how many; repeating it with an ending strikes Georgian as superfluous. The rule has no exceptions, and breaking it is heard at once.
Second: paired things are one thing. ხელთათმანი (kheltatmani) — gloves, შარვალი (sharvali) — trousers, სათვალე (satvale) — glasses: all singular. A pair of socks is წყვილი წინდა (tsqvili tsinda), where წყვილი (tsqvili) means 'a pair'. True, socks themselves — წინდები (tsindebi) — mostly sound in the plural in speech, and შორტები (shortebi) never occurs in the singular: there is no full consistency here, and it simply has to be memorized word by word.
Third: the counting word ცალი (tsali) — 'piece'. When the object is not named but must be counted, people say ხუთი ცალი (khuti tsali) — five pieces. At the market this is half of all phrases: ორი ცალი (ori tsali), თუ შეიძლება (tu sheidzleba). Also useful: ორივე (orive) — both, and რამდენიმე (ramdenime) — a few.
Table
| in English | in Georgian | why |
|---|---|---|
| two tickets | ორი ბილეთი | singular after a number |
| gloves | ხელთათმანი | a pair counts as one thing |
| trousers | შარვალი | the same |
| two pairs of socks | ორი წყვილი წინდა | the counting word წყვილი — a pair |
| five pieces | ხუთი ცალი | the counting word ცალი — a piece |
By example
- ორი ბილეთი, თუ შეიძლებაori bileti, tu sheidzlebaTwo tickets, please
- ხუთი ცალი მინდაkhuti tsali mindaI want five pieces
- ორივე ჩანთა ჩემიაorive chanta chemiaBoth bags are mine
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
How many: how does it work in Georgian?
There is one plural in Georgian, the ending -ები, and that was covered in the home unit. What matters here is the reverse: the places where English puts a plural and Georgian does not. There are three, and all three meet you on your first day in a shop.
What does it look like in an example sentence Georgian?
“ორი ბილეთი, თუ შეიძლება” (ori bileti, tu sheidzleba) — Two tickets, please. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.