მართლა?
“მართლა?” (martla?) — seriously? in Georgian. Phrase, level B1. From martali, truthful: literally 'the truth?'. In speech it is exactly the English 'seriously?' — a short check that the other is not joking. Affirmative, without the question: martla — indeed. In a live sentence: “მართლა? როდის მოხდა?” — Seriously? When did that happen? You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters მ, ა, რ, თ, ლ, ა. A word from the everyday Georgian course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Georgian | მართლა? |
| Read in Latin letters | martla? |
| Translation | seriously? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- მართლა?martla?seriously?
Why it looks that way
From martali, truthful: literally 'the truth?'. In speech it is exactly the English 'seriously?' — a short check that the other is not joking. Affirmative, without the question: martla — indeed
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.
- მართლა? როდის მოხდა?martla? rodis mokhda?Seriously? When did that happen?
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 “seriously?” in Georgian?
«მართლა?», read “martla?”. In a live sentence: “მართლა? როდის მოხდა?” — Seriously? When did that happen? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters მ, ა, რ, თ, ლ, ა.
How is “მართლა?” written in Latin letters?
martla?. 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?
From martali, truthful: literally 'the truth?'. In speech it is exactly the English 'seriously?' — a short check that the other is not joking. Affirmative, without the question: martla — indeed. 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.