კაფელი
“კაფელი” (kapeli) — tile in Georgian. Noun, level B1, topic — home and things. Specifically wall and floor tile. A bar of chocolate is sokoladis fila, and a cooktop is eleqtrokura: three different 'tiles', three different words. In a live sentence: “აბაზანაში კაფელი შევცვალეთ” — We changed the tile in the bathroom. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters კ, ა, ფ, ე, ლ, ი. One of 190 words in the set “home and things” in the Georgian course.
In short
| Written in Georgian | კაფელი |
| Read in Latin letters | kapeli |
| Translation | tile |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- კაფელიkapelitile
Why it looks that way
Specifically wall and floor tile. A bar of chocolate is sokoladis fila, and a cooktop is eleqtrokura: three different 'tiles', three different words
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- აბაზანაში კაფელი შევცვალეთabazanashi kapeli shevtsvaletWe changed the tile in the bathroom
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- სახლიsakhlihouseBoth the building and the home. Sakhlshi means both 'at home' and 'to the house': place and direction share one ending here
- საცხოვრებელიsatskhovrebelihousingInside is the familiar vtskhovrob, I live. The sa-...-ebeli frame makes 'that which one lives in'
- ოთახიotakhiroomOne letter a apart from otkhi, four — and the meanings are far apart
- სამზარეულოsamzareulokitchenFrom mzareuli, cook: the kitchen is 'the cook's place'
- აბაზანაabazanabathroomBoth the tub itself and the room. The room more precisely is saabazano
- აივანიaivanibalconyThe carved Tbilisi balconies are exactly these. A Persian word, kin to the 'iwan' of architecture
- სართულიsartulifloorThe floor nearly always takes -ze: meore sartulze, on the second floor
- ლიფტიliptielevatorSpelled with a p but sounding 'lipti': the p in Georgian is an aspirated p, not an f
- კიბეkibestairsthe k is a sharp k with no puff; compare the kh in kucha, where the puff is audible
- მაგიდაmagidatableWith -ze this word appears more often than without: magidaze, on the table
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “tile” in Georgian?
Specifically wall and floor tile. A bar of chocolate is sokoladis fila, and a cooktop is eleqtrokura: three different 'tiles', three different words
- How do you say “floor” in Georgian?
The floor nearly always takes -ze: meore sartulze, on the second floor
- How do you say “room” in Georgian?
One letter a apart from otkhi, four — and the meanings are far apart
- How do you say “table” in Georgian?
With -ze this word appears more often than without: magidaze, on the table
- How do you say “balcony” in Georgian?
The carved Tbilisi balconies are exactly these. A Persian word, kin to the 'iwan' of architecture
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “tile” in Georgian?
«კაფელი», read “kapeli”. In a live sentence: “აბაზანაში კაფელი შევცვალეთ” — We changed the tile in the bathroom. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters კ, ა, ფ, ე, ლ, ი.
How is “კაფელი” written in Latin letters?
kapeli. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Specifically wall and floor tile. A bar of chocolate is sokoladis fila, and a cooktop is eleqtrokura: three different 'tiles', three different words. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.