მამა
“მამა” (mama) — father in Georgian. Noun, level A1, topic — people and family. The trap for beginners: mama in Georgian is the father. In a live sentence: “მამა სამსახურში წავიდა” — Father left for work. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters მ, ა, მ, ა. One of 134 words in the set “people and family” in the Georgian course.
In short
| Written in Georgian | მამა |
| Read in Latin letters | mama |
| Translation | father |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- მამაmamafather
Why it looks that way
The trap for beginners: mama in Georgian is the father
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.
- მამა სამსახურში წავიდაmama samsakhurshi tsavidaFather left for work
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- მეგობარიmegobarifriendAddressing a friend is megobaro: the ending -o is the vocative case
- ოჯახიojakhifamilyA Persian word. About family one says hqavs — the verb for people, not akvs, the one for things
- დედაdedamotherHence dedaena, mother tongue — literally 'mother language'
- შვილიshvilichildMeans both son and daughter: the word names no sex at all. A boy separately is vaji, a girl kalishvili. Hence the surnames in -shvili, 'such-and-such's child'
- გამყიდველიgamqidvelisellerthe start is not 'gamq' with an English q: the q comes from the very depth of the throat, the lips do not move
- მყიდველიmqidvelibuyerThe same word without ga-: the seller is gamqidveli, the buyer mqidveli — two letters apart
- მეზობელიmezobelineighborThe prefix me- often marks someone located somewhere or occupied with something: mezobeli, metevzi the fisherman
- ადამიანიadamianipersonFrom the name Adam. About people in general one more often says khalxi — folk, people; adamiani is one individual
- კაციkatsimanthe k is a sharp k with no puff: the throat clicks and no air goes out. The aspirated kh in khali sounds quite different
- ქალიkaliwomanKhali and katsi are a pair, and the whole difference is the first letter: aspirated kh against sharp k. Wife is a different word, tsoli
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “father” in Georgian?
The trap for beginners: mama in Georgian is the father
- How do you say “neighbor” in Georgian?
The prefix me- often marks someone located somewhere or occupied with something: mezobeli, metevzi the fisherman
- How do you say “mother” in Georgian?
Hence dedaena, mother tongue — literally 'mother language'
- How do you say “woman” in Georgian?
Khali and katsi are a pair, and the whole difference is the first letter: aspirated kh against sharp k. Wife is a different word, tsoli
- How do you say “buyer” in Georgian?
The same word without ga-: the seller is gamqidveli, the buyer mqidveli — two letters apart
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 “father” in Georgian?
«მამა», read “mama”. In a live sentence: “მამა სამსახურში წავიდა” — Father left for work. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “people and family”; written with the characters მ, ა, მ, ა.
How is “მამა” written in Latin letters?
mama. 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?
The trap for beginners: mama in Georgian is the father. 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.