ტყემალი
“ტყემალი” (tkemali) — tkemali in Georgian. Noun, level A1, topic — food and drink. The tree itself bears the same name: the sauce is named after its raw material. In a live sentence: “ტყემალი მოიტანე” — Bring the tkemali. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ტ, ყ, ე, მ, ა, ლ, ი. One of 191 words in the set “food and drink” in the Georgian course.
In short
| Written in Georgian | ტყემალი |
| Read in Latin letters | tkemali |
| Translation | tkemali |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- ტყემალიtkemalitkemali
What it is
A sour sauce of wild cherry plum with garlic and bog mint. Green when made from unripe fruit, red from ripe. Served with meat and potatoes; in a Georgian home it stands on the table as constantly as salt.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
The tree itself bears the same name: the sauce is named after its raw material
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.
- ტყემალი მოიტანეtkemali moitaneBring the tkemali
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- ყავაqavacoffeeThe opening q is a deep guttural sound from the very bottom of the throat — nothing in English stands this far back
- ჩაიchaiteaThe word traveled half the world almost unchanged. Tea is poured into a chika (glass), coffee into a pinjani (cup)
- წყალიtsqaliwaterTwo hard sounds in a row: the sharp ejective ts and the deep throaty q. A real tongue workout
- პურიpuribreadGeorgian bread bakes in a round clay oven, a tone — hence shotis puri, the boat-shaped loaf
- ყველიqvelicheeseThat deep throaty q again at the start. Sulguni and the Imeretian kind are the two cheeses to know
- ხორციkhortsimeatMenus usually list its kinds: beef, pork, chicken — each named as 'of the animal'
- თევზიtevzifishHence metevzi, fisherman: the me- prefix turns a thing into a trade, as in mebaghe, gardener
- სალათიsalatisaladA borrowing with the obligatory -i. On menus it is most often kartuli salati — tomatoes with walnuts
- სუპიsupisoupA borrowing. The native neighbor is tsvniani, from tsveni — juice, broth
- მარილიmarilisaltHence mariliani, salty — the -iani tail means 'with something'
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “tkemali” in Georgian?
The tree itself bears the same name: the sauce is named after its raw material
- How do you say “fish” in Georgian?
Hence metevzi, fisherman: the me- prefix turns a thing into a trade, as in mebaghe, gardener
- How do you say “water” in Georgian?
Two hard sounds in a row: the sharp ejective ts and the deep throaty q. A real tongue workout
- How do you say “salt” in Georgian?
Hence mariliani, salty — the -iani tail means 'with something'
- How do you say “meat” in Georgian?
Menus usually list its kinds: beef, pork, chicken — each named as 'of the animal'
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 “tkemali” in Georgian?
«ტყემალი», read “tkemali”. In a live sentence: “ტყემალი მოიტანე” — Bring the tkemali. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters ტ, ყ, ე, მ, ა, ლ, ი.
How is “ტყემალი” written in Latin letters?
tkemali. 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 tree itself bears the same name: the sauce is named after its raw material. 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.