Georgia is located in the South
Caucasus. Georgia borders with
Turkey, Armenian and Azerbaijan in the south
and with Russia, in particular,
Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North
Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan in
the north, and with the Black Sea in the west.
The capital city of Georgia is Tbilisi.
Despite its
small territory – 69,700 sq km – different
landscape types are represented in the
republic, which is largely mountainous with
the Great Caucasus Mountains in the north and
Lesser Caucasus Mountains in the south;
Kolkhida Lowland opens to the Black Sea in the
west; Mtkvari River Basin in the east; there
are good soils in the river valley flood
plains and in the foothills of Kolkhida
Lowland. Lowest point: Black
Sea 0 m., highest
point: Mountain Shkhara 5,201 m
Major rivers are Kura (Mt'k'vari), Rioni,
Alazani, Aragvi...
The population of Georgia is4.2
million
(UN, 2010), by another estimation about 5.2
million.
Georgian has
constitutional status as the official
language of Georgia (Constitution
of Georgia, chapter 1, article 8).
Georgia
Three regions
with special status are found in Georgia:
Abkhazia, Ajara and South-Ossetia (known
during the Soviet period as the Autonomous
republics of Abkhazia and Ajara and the
South-Ossete Autonomous region). As a result
of political and ethno-political conflicts
and wars in Abkhazia and South-Ossetia in
particular during the post-Soviet period, a
total migration of Georgians has taken place
from these regions to other parts of Georgia
and abroad. Russia has occupied a large part
of Georgia and recognized two regions of
Georgia to be independent states.
2.
Country profile by BBC.
These sites introduce general data on the
geography, history and culture of Georgia.
Georgian Flag
Georgia's
Large Coat of Arms
Georgia's
Small Coat of Arms:
The Georgian alphabet
ქართული ანბანი Kartuli
anbani
There are 33 phonemes
in Modern Standard Georgian: 5
vowels and 28 consonants. The Georgian alphabet has 33 graphemes
(letters) for these 33 phonemes (sounds): one
grapheme for each sound. Spelling usually
coincides with pronunciation.The Georgian
alphabet has its own independent place among
world alphabets. The oldest known Georgian
inscriptions date from at least as early as
the beginning of the fifth century C. E., with
the latest investigations suggesting even
earlier. The writing system has undergone
considerable changes since then, and three
stages of development may be distinguished:
Mrgvlovani (V-IX cent.)
Nuskhuri (IX-XI cent.)
Mkhedruli (XI-now)
Each letter has its own unique
designation; there
are no capitals. Every letter is expressed by one sound
value. There are no silent letters.
ქართული ანბანი მარტივია kartuli anbani
mart'ivia The Georgian alphabet is
simple.
[ ] Latin letters in the square brackets
show transliteration that we use in our
course. / /Latin
letters in the slashes
show on which key you
can find the Georgian letters on your
keyboard.
1.
ა
[a] /a/
12.
მ
[m] /m/
23.
ღ
[gh] /R/
2.
ბ
[b] /b/
13.
ნ
[n] /n/
24.
ყ
[q'] /y/
3.
გ
[g] /g/
14.
ო
[o] /o/
25.
შ
[sh] /S/
4.
დ
[d]
/d/
15.
პ
[p'] /p/
26.
ჩ
[ch]
/C/
5.
ე
[e]
/e/
16.
ჟ
[zh]
/J/
27.
ც
[c]
/c/
6.
ვ
[v]
/v/
17.
რ
[r]
/r/
28.
ძ
[dz]
/Z/
7.
ზ
[z]
/z/
18.
ს
[s]
/s/
29.
წ
[c']
/w/
8.
თ
[t]
/T/
19.
ტ
[t']
/t/
30.
ჭ
[ch'] /W/<
9.
ი
[i] /i/
20.
უ [u] /u/
31.
ხ
[x] /x/
10.
კ
[k'] /k/
21.
ფ
[p] /f/
32.
ჯ
[dzh] /j/
11.
ლ
[l] /l/
22.
ქ
[k] /q/
33.
ჰ
[h] /h/
A
very good resource and exercises for learning
the Georgian alphabet:
here. If
you would like to type in Georgian, but do
not have Georgian font on your computer, you can
use a virtual
Georgian keyboard.
Georgian has a
simple 5-vowel system: front rounded i, e,
back rounded u, o, and neutral a (5-vowel
systems are actually the most common vowel
systems among the world's languages). There
are no long vowels in standard Georgian.
Georgian vowels: აa, ეe, იi, ოo and უu.
Sequences of two vowels are not
pronounced as diphthongs. Every vowel creates
a syllable.
The number of vowels determines the
number of syllables. Stress is very weak and
does not change the quality of the vowel.
Stress has no
influence on the vowel system. Stress is
usually placed on the initial syllable of a
word, and in words of more than four
syllables the third syllable from the end is
also stressed.
Watch this clip and learn
how to spell Georgian letters
The description of pronunciation (articulation) of
the Georgian sounds and the spelling of the
corresponding letters are based onAmiran
Lomtadze, We learn to write and read Georgian,
Tbilisi, 1997, and Rusudan Asatiani, Georgian Language
for Foreigners, Tbilisi, 1996.
Note:The letter x
used as a transliteration for the Georgian letter number
31 (ხ) does
not express the same sound as the letter x in English.
It should be pronounced as glottalised ("hard") h
and never as ks.
There is
no grammatical gender in Georgian.
There are no articles.
The question
ვინ (vin
"who") applies only to human beings.
Everything else, regardless of whether it is
animate or inanimate, answers the
question რა (ra
"what"), e. g.:
Group who (vin) -
only human beings:
ვინ? vin? Who?
Listen to
the whole list here:
დედა
deda
mother
მამა
mama
father
და
da
sister
ძმა
dzma
brother
გოგო
gogo
girl
ბიჭი
bich'i
boy
ქალი
kali
woman
კაცი
man
Group what (ra) - all
animate and inanimate beings except humans:
რა?
ra? What?
Listen to the whole list
here:
კატა
k'at'a
cat
ჩიტი
chit'i
bird
ძაღლი
dzaghli
dog
სახლი
saxli
house
ეზო
ezo
yard
მანქანა
mankana
car
ქუჩა
kucha
street
All the forms
listed above are nouns in the nominative case
(a form used for naming things). In standard
Georgian, nouns
usually end in vowels (-i, -a, -e, -o
or -u) in the nominative case.
A final vowel
-i is a nominative case marker (k'ac-i,
bavshv-i...). Other final vowels (-a, -e,
-o, and -u) are not nominative case
markers. They belong to the stem.
The nominative case marker -i is attached even
to loan words; e.g.:
common
nouns:
rector რექტორიrekt'ori
theatre თეატრი teat'ri
internet ინტერნეტი int'ernet'i
proper nouns:
London ლონდონი londoni
Berlin ბერლინი berlini
Thomas თომასი tomasi
Stems ending in
the vowels -a, -e, -o or -u do not
require a marker in the nominative case:
Riga რიგა riga
Havana ჰავანა havana
There is one shared pronoun ის [is]for everything that is expressed
in English by the pronouns: he, she, it, that, whereas
the pronoun ეს [es]
means the same as the pronoun this.
ის [is] - he, she, it, that
ეს [es] - this
Listen
to the recordings, make sure to repeat
each phrase out loud and memorize the sentences:
რა არის ეს? ra aris es?
What is this?
ეს არის სკოლა. es aris
sk'ola.
This is a school.
რა არის ეს? ra aris es?
What is this?
ეს არის მანქანა. es aris
mankana.
This is a car.
ვინ არის ის? vin aris
is?
Who is he?
ის არის დავითი. is aris Daviti.
He is Davit.
You see the difference
between the Georgian and English spelling of the
name. The vowel -i is attached to the end of the
name in Georgian: Davit-i. The last vowel -i is a
nominative case marker.
The proper noun Davit ends in a consonant (in
particular, in the consonant -t). In
Georgian, it takes the nominative case marker -i:
დავით-ი.
ვინ არის ის? vin aris
is?
Who is she?
ის არის ანა.
is aris Ana.
She is Anna.
The proper noun ანა ends in a vowel (in
particular, in the vowel -a) and it does not take
the nominative case marker -i.
Note: there
are no geminated consonants in Georgian. The proper
noun Anna is being pronounced and spelled ანა [ana] in Georgian.
Learn the following
numerals. Memorize the words and letters:
