Numbers and counting in Georgian
57 words Georgian words on the topic “numbers and counting”: ერთი — one, ორი — two, სამი — three, ოთხი — four. 57 words can be played from recordings.
57 words on the topic
- ერთიertioneIn an order it works as an indefinite article: erti qava is simply 'a coffee', not strictly one cup
- ორიoritwoOrmotsi (forty) and orasi (two hundred) are built on it: the root shows in both
- სამიsamithreeThe same root inside samotsi (sixty) and samasi (three hundred)
- ოთხიotkhifourHence otkhshabati, Wednesday: literally 'fourth day', the week counted from Saturday
- ხუთიkhutifiveThe kh here is deep and hoarse, made far back in the throat — further back than English h
- ექვსიekvsisixFour consonants in a row and a single vowel. The ordinal grows its own extra e: meekvse, sixth
- შვიდიshvidisevenDo not mix up with shvidasi (seven hundred) — the opening is the same. The ordinal is meshvide
- რვაrvaeightA word with no vowel at all. In Georgian that is normal, not a typo
- ცხრაtskhranineThree consonants in a row and a single vowel at the end — also perfectly normal
- ათიatitenPast twenty Georgian counts in twenties: forty is literally 'two twenties'
- თერთმეტიtertmetielevenHides the familiar erti (one) and meti (more): 'ten and one more'. The whole teens are assembled this way
- თორმეტიtormetitwelveThe same recipe: ori (two) plus meti. A dozen eggs at the market comes out as tormeti kvertskhi
- ცამეტიtsametithirteenthe opening ts is aspirated, with a soft puff of air, lighter than the ejective ts: tsa-me-ti
- თოთხმეტიtotkhmetifourteenThe familiar otkhi (four) squeezed to otkh, with the t-...-meti frame left in place
- თხუთმეტიtkhutmetififteenFrom khuti (five). There is no word for a quarter hour: Georgians say fifteen minutes
- თექვსმეტიtekvsmetisixteenFrom ekvsi (six). Three consonants in a row in the middle — kvs — is normal for Georgian
- ჩვიდმეტიchvidmetiseventeenFrom shvidi (seven), but the opening switched from sh to ch — the only such spot in the series
- თვრამეტიtvrametieighteenFrom rva (eight), with the letters reshuffled — the root is hard to recognize. Adulthood in Georgia starts at eighteen
- ცხრამეტიtskhrametinineteenThe familiar tskhra (nine) survives intact. The last number in the -meti series
- ოციotsitwentyThe teens break off here: otsi is a new counting unit, not 'ten and ten'. Georgian then counts by twenties — forty is literally two twenties
- ოცდაათიotsdaatithirtyRead it in pieces: otsi (twenty) plus da (and) plus ati (ten). A long word, but assembled from three you know
- ორმოციormotsifortyOri (two) plus otsi (twenty): two twenties. The French quatre-vingts lives by the same logic
- ორმოცდაათიormotsdaatififtyForty and ten: ormotsi plus da plus ati. Do not add the parts aloud — the word already means fifty
- სამოციsamotsisixtySami (three) plus otsi: three twenties. The women's pension age in Georgia is exactly this number
- სამოცდაათიsamotsdaatiseventySixty and ten. The same formula as fifty, and it is the one people trip over most often
- ოთხმოციotkhmotsieightyOtkhi (four) plus otsi: four twenties. The last clean twenty-based number in the system
- ოთხმოცდაათიotkhmotsdaatininetyEighty and ten — the longest number below a hundred. After this the system gives up and counts normally
- ასიasihundredA short word after all those long ones: the twenties end here. Two hundred and three hundred follow the familiar pattern
- ათასიatasithousandInside are ati (ten) and asi (hundred): literally 'ten hundreds'. Keep it distinct from asi by ear — one syllable apart
- მილიონიmilionimillionA borrowing with the obligatory -i. Tbilisi holds ert milionze meti people — more than a million
- ნულიnulizeroAbout temperature and about the score. On the phone digits are read one by one, and zero is named outright
- პირველიpirvelifirst (ordinal)the opening p is ejective: the lips snap open sharply, with no puff of air
- მეორეmeoresecondThe me-...-e frame around ori (two) — the way every ordinal from the second on is built
- მესამეmesamethirdThe same frame around sami (three). It also builds professions — mebaghe, gardener — so its job is wider than counting
- ბოლოbololastAlso 'the end': kuchis bolo, the end of the street. The familiar bolos, 'finally', is this same word in a case
- რამდენიramdenihow manyYou have asked ramdeni ghirs (how much is it) and ramdeni tslishi khar (how old are you): one word for countable and uncountable alike
- წყვილიtsqvilia pairtwo hard sounds in a row, as in tsqali: a sharp ejective ts and then the deep throaty q — tsqvi-li
- ცალიtsaliitemThe counting word when buying: khuti tsali, five of them. Also 'one of a pair': tsali kheli, one of your two hands
- პროცენტიprotsentipercentThe same word as bank interest: a share of a hundred and the price of credit are one thing here. Ati protcenti is a share of ten
- ყოველიqovelieverythe opening q is the deep guttural, from the very bottom of the throat: qo-ve-li
- ორასიorasitwo hundredOri (two) plus asi (hundred), fused with no space: or-asi. Twenties end at the hundred; from there numbers are added together
- სამასიsamasithree hundredSami (three) and asi melt into one word, the final -i of the three dropping off: sam-asi. Georgian writes a number as one word
- ოთხასიotkhasifour hundredFrom otkhi (four). The rule in full view: the -i leaves, asi glues on — every hundred up to nine hundred works like this
- ხუთასიkhutasifive hundredFrom khuti (five). Georgia's largest banknote is named with the same word plus a suffix — the five-hundred-lari note
- ექვსასიekvsasisix hundredkh is aspirated, with a light puff of breath: ek-vsa-si, every consonant stays audible
- შვიდასიshvidasiseven hundredFrom shvidi (seven). To the ear it is one word, not 'seven hundred': Georgian never splits its hundreds
- რვაასიrvaasieight hundredthe two a's in a row do not merge: rva-a-si, four syllables
- ცხრაასიtskhraasinine hundredFrom tskhra (nine), again with a double a at the seam. The last hundred before the familiar thousand
- მეოთხეmeotkhefourthThe me-...-e frame around otkhi (four): the number's final -i drops off and -e takes its place
- მეხუთეmekhutefifthThe same frame around khuti (five). Ordinals behave like adjectives: they stand before the noun and describe rather than count
- მეექვსეmeekvsesixthdo not merge them: me-ek-vse, the first e belongs to the prefix, the second to the root
- მეშვიდეmeshvideseventhFrom shvidi (seven). The seventh day of the Georgian week is kvira, Sunday — the week starts on Monday
- მერვეmerveeighthFrom rva (eight), but the root is reshuffled inside: not 'mervae' but merve. The only bumpy spot in the whole series
- მეცხრეmetskhreninthFrom tskhra (nine): the frame eats the final a — me-tskhr-e. Three consonants in a row, just as in the number itself
- მეათეmeatetenthFrom ati (ten). The frame keeps working on any number: meotse, twentieth; mease, hundredth
- მეასეmeasehundredthThe same frame around asi (hundred). The hundreds build ordinals the same way: meorase, two hundredth
- რიცხვიritskhvinumberBoth a number and a date: 'on the ninth' uses its case form. A phone number is a different word, nomeri
How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
- ერთი ბილეთი, თუ შეიძლებაerti bileti, tu sheidzlebaOne ticket, please
- ორი ძმა მყავსori dzma mqavsI have two brothers
- სამი დღე დავრჩებითsami dghe davrchebitWe will stay for three days
- ოთხი ადამიანი ვართotkhi adamiani vartThere are four of us
- ხუთი ლარი დამრჩაkhuti lari damrchaI have five lari left
- ექვსი კვერცხი ვიყიდეekvsi kvertskhi viqideI bought six eggs
What is worth knowing about these words
ერთი (erti) — one. In an order it works as an indefinite article: erti qava is simply 'a coffee', not strictly one cup
ორი (ori) — two. Ormotsi (forty) and orasi (two hundred) are built on it: the root shows in both
სამი (sami) — three. The same root inside samotsi (sixty) and samasi (three hundred)
ოთხი (otkhi) — four. Hence otkhshabati, Wednesday: literally 'fourth day', the week counted from Saturday
Test yourself
First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.
- What is this word?
It is ერთი (erti) — one.
- What is this word?
It is რვა (rva) — eight.
- What is this word?
It is თხუთმეტი (tkhutmeti) — fifteen.
- What is this word?
It is ორმოცი (ormotsi) — forty.
- What is this word?
It is ათასი (atasi) — thousand.
Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one” in Georgian?
In an order it works as an indefinite article: erti qava is simply 'a coffee', not strictly one cup
- How do you say “eight” in Georgian?
A word with no vowel at all. In Georgian that is normal, not a typo
- How do you say “fifteen” in Georgian?
From khuti (five). There is no word for a quarter hour: Georgians say fifteen minutes
- How do you say “forty” in Georgian?
Ori (two) plus otsi (twenty): two twenties. The French quatre-vingts lives by the same logic
- How do you say “thousand” in Georgian?
Inside are ati (ten) and asi (hundred): literally 'ten hundreds'. Keep it distinct from asi by ear — one syllable apart
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- 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.
- This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “one” in Georgian?
«ერთი», read “erti”. In an order it works as an indefinite article: erti qava is simply 'a coffee', not strictly one cup. It is one of 57 words in the set “numbers and counting” — the rest are in the table above.
How many numbers do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 57 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.
Is there audio?
Yes, 57 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.