The Complete Guide to the Georgian Alphabet (Mkhedruli): All 33 Letters

The Georgian alphabet is one of those things that looks impossibly exotic from the outside — all flowing curves and mysterious squiggles — but turns out to be remarkably logical once you start learning it. I remember staring at a menu in Tbilisi my first week, thinking “I will never decode this.” Two days later, I was sounding out street signs like a proud kindergartner.

The script is called მხედრული (Mkhedruli, meaning “knightly” or “military”), and it has 33 letters. No uppercase, no lowercase — just one beautiful form per letter. And here’s the best part: it’s almost perfectly phonetic. Each letter makes exactly one sound, every single time, with zero exceptions. If you can learn 33 symbols, you can read Georgian.

This guide is the companion reference to our YouTube alphabet video, where you can hear every sound and see the letters on real Georgian street signs. Use both together for the fastest results.

Why Learn the Alphabet First?

Some courses skip the alphabet and use transliteration (writing Georgian sounds in Latin letters). That’s a mistake, and here’s why:

• Transliteration teaches wrong sounds. There’s no accurate way to represent ყ, ღ, or ჭ in Latin letters. You learn incorrect pronunciation from day one
• Reading Georgian is a superpower. Once you know the alphabet, every sign, menu, and label in Tbilisi becomes a free vocabulary lesson
• It’s fast. Most people learn the alphabet in 2-4 hours with a good method. That small investment pays off forever
• You’ll spot patterns. Word endings, prefixes, verb forms — they all become visible once you can read the script

Interactive Practice

Want to drill while you read? Open our Interactive Alphabet Explorer in another tab — it has all 33 letters with audio, quizzes, and progress tracking. Come back here for the full explanations and context.

The 5 Vowels

Georgian has exactly 5 vowels, each with one consistent sound. They never change — ა is always “ah,” whether it’s at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

Letter	Sound	Like in English	Example Word
ა	a	father	არა (a-ra) — no
ე	e	bed	ერთი (er-ti) — one
ი	i	machine	იქ (iq) — there
ო	o	more	ორი (o-ri) — two
უ	u	blue	უკვე (uk-ve) — already

Compare this to English, where the letter “a” alone can sound like “cat,” “cake,” “car,” “call,” “about,” and “sofa.” Georgian doesn’t do that. Each vowel = one sound. Always.

Basic Consonants

These consonants have close equivalents in English. You’ll pick them up quickly:

Letter	Sound	Like in English	Example Word
ბ	b	book	ბავშვი (bav-shvi) — child
გ	g	go (always hard)	გული (gu-li) — heart
დ	d	dog	დილა (di-la) — morning
ვ	v	vote	ვარდი (var-di) — rose
ზ	z	zoo	ზღვა (zghva) — sea
ლ	l	light	ლამაზი (la-ma-zi) — beautiful
მ	m	moon	მზე (mze) — sun
ნ	n	night	ნანა (na-na) — lullaby
რ	r	rolled, like Spanish r	რა (ra) — what
ს	s	sun	სახლი (sakh-li) — house
ფ	p	pen (aspirated)	ფული (pu-li) — money
შ	sh	shoe	შენი (she-ni) — yours
ჰ	h	hello	ჰაერი (ha-e-ri) — air

A note on რ (r)

Georgian რ is always rolled/trilled, similar to the Spanish or Italian “r.” If you can’t roll your r’s yet, don’t worry — a tap (single flap) is fine and everyone will understand you. The rolling comes with practice.

Consonants That Need Extra Attention

These sounds either don’t exist in English or require specific technique:

Letter	Sound	How to Say It	Example Word
თ	t	Aspirated t (like “t” in “top”)	თბილისი (Tbi-li-si) — Tbilisi
ჟ	zh	Like “s” in pleasure	ჟურნალი (zhur-na-li) — magazine
ც	ts	Like “ts” in cats	ცა (tsa) — sky
ძ	dz	Like “ds” in adds	ძველი (dzve-li) — old
ჩ	ch	Like “ch” in church	ჩაი (cha-i) — tea
ხ	kh	Like German “ch” in Bach	ხე (khe) — tree
ჯ	j	Like “j” in jump	ჯამი (ja-mi) — bowl
ღ	gh	Voiced version of ხ — like gargling softly	ღვინო (ghvi-no) — wine
ქ	k	Aspirated k (like “k” in “kite”)	ქალი (qa-li) — woman

The two trickiest here are ხ (kh) and ღ (gh). Think of ხ as the sound you make when you say “Bach” (the composer) with a German accent. Now voice that sound (add your vocal cords vibrating) and you get ღ. Practice: ხე (khe — tree) vs. ღვინო (ghvi-no — wine).

The Ejective Consonants: Georgian’s Signature Sounds

This is what makes Georgian sound Georgian. Ejective consonants are produced by closing your glottis (the back of your throat, like when you hold your breath) and then releasing air in a sharp burst. They sound “popped” or “clicked” compared to their softer counterparts.

Georgian has six ejectives:

Ejective (Sharp)	Regular (Soft)	How They Differ
ტ (t’)	თ (t)	ტბა (t’ba — lake) vs. თვალი (tva-li — eye)
კ (k’)	ქ (k)	კაცი (k’a-tsi — man) vs. ქალი (qa-li — woman)
პ (p’)	ფ (p)	პური (p’u-ri — bread) vs. ფული (pu-li — money)
წ (ts’)	ც (ts)	წყალი (ts’qa-li — water) vs. ცა (tsa — sky)
ჭ (ch’)	ჩ (ch)	ჭადრაკი (ch’ad-ra-ki — chess) vs. ჩაი (cha-i — tea)
ყ (q’)	—	ყველი (q’ve-li — cheese) — no soft equivalent

How to practice ejectives: Hold your breath, build up a tiny bit of pressure, then release it as you say the consonant. It should feel like a small pop in your throat. Start with პ (p’) since it’s easiest to feel — say “uh-oh” and notice the little catch in the middle. That catch is your glottis closing. Now use that same mechanism to “pop” the p-sound.

Don’t panic if you can’t produce perfect ejectives immediately. Georgians will understand you either way, and the distinction develops naturally with exposure. I didn’t reliably distinguish კ from ქ for months.

Memory Tricks for Tricky Letters

Visual associations that have helped our students:

• ა (a) — Resembles a tilted lowercase “a”
• ბ (b) — Bottom loop like a rotated “b”
• გ (g) — Looks like a backwards “3”
• დ (d) — Has a tail that droops down
• ვ (v) — Looks like a checkmark ✓ — verified
• თ (t) — Circular, like the number “0”
• მ (m) — Two bumps on top, like the humps of “m”
• ს (s) — A curved snake
• ღ (gh) — Looks complex — because the sound is complex (gargling)
• ყ (q’) — Has a tail going deep down — the sound comes from deep in your throat

The best memory trick, honestly? Just read real Georgian words. Five minutes of reading practice beats an hour of mnemonic games.

Practical Reading Practice

Here are common words and signs you’ll encounter in daily life. Try sounding them out letter by letter:

Signs You’ll See Everywhere

Georgian	Sound It Out	Meaning
სასტუმრო	sa-s-tum-ro	Hotel
რესტორანი	res-to-ra-ni	Restaurant
აფთიაქი	ap-ti-a-qi	Pharmacy
მეტრო	met-ro	Metro
ბანკი	ban-ki	Bank
მაღაზია	ma-gha-zi-a	Shop
გამოსვლა	ga-mos-vla	Exit
შესვლა	shes-vla	Entrance
გაჩერება	ga-che-re-ba	Bus stop
ტუალეტი	tu-a-le-ti	Toilet

Tbilisi Metro Stations

Metro stations are perfect practice because you see them repeatedly:

Georgian	Sound It Out	What’s There
რუსთაველი	rus-ta-ve-li	Main avenue, museums
თავისუფლების მოედანი	ta-vi-sup-le-bis mo-e-da-ni	Freedom Square
სადგურის მოედანი	sad-gu-ris mo-e-da-ni	Train station
დიდუბე	di-du-be	Bus station for intercity
ვარკეთილი	var-ke-ti-li	Eastern terminus
სამგორი	sam-go-ri	Eastern Tbilisi
ავლაბარი	av-la-ba-ri	Holy Trinity Cathedral

Food Words You’ll Need

Georgian	Sound It Out	What It Is
ხაჭაპური	kha-cha-pu-ri	Cheese bread (Georgia’s national dish)
ხინკალი	khin-ka-li	Soup dumplings
ღვინო	ghvi-no	Wine
ლუდი	lu-di	Beer
წყალი	ts’qa-li	Water
ყავა	qa-va	Coffee
ჩაი	cha-i	Tea
პური	p’u-ri	Bread
ყველი	qve-li	Cheese
ხილი	khi-li	Fruit
ხორცი	khor-tsi	Meat
თევზი	tev-zi	Fish

Want to learn how to actually order these? Check out our Georgian Restaurant Phrases guide.

Dealing With Consonant Clusters

Georgian is famous for its consonant clusters — strings of consonants with no vowels between them. When you see a word like მშვიდობა (peace), your brain might panic. Don’t.

The trick: take it one letter at a time. Every letter still makes its one sound. No letter is silent.

მშვიდობა breaks down as: მ-შ-ვ-ი-დ-ო-ბ-ა (m-sh-v-i-d-o-b-a)

More examples:

• გვფრცქვნი (gv-prts-qv-ni) — “you peel us” — yes, this is a real word, but no, you won’t use it daily
• ბრძანდებოდეთ (br-dzan-de-bo-det) — “please sit down” — you’ll actually hear this one
• ვფრთხილდები (v-prt-khil-de-bi) — “I’m being careful”

With practice, your mouth learns to handle clusters that seemed impossible at first. Georgian children master them, and so can you.

Confusing Letter Pairs

Watch out for these similar-looking letters:

Letter 1	Letter 2	How to Tell Them Apart
ა (a)	მ (m)	ა has an open top; მ has two bumps
ბ (b)	ვ (v)	ბ has a closed loop; ვ has an open hook
ე (e)	ს (s)	ე curves left at top; ს curves right
რ (r)	ყ (q’)	რ curves up; ყ has a longer descender
ქ (k)	ფ (p)	Both descend, but ქ has a longer tail

The fix? Read more. Context helps enormously — you’ll start recognizing whole words rather than individual letters, and the confusion fades.

A Brief History of Georgian Script

You don’t need history to read a menu, but it adds appreciation:

Georgia has had three scripts over its history:

1. ასომთავრული (Asomtavruli, 5th century) — Monumental, uppercase-like, used in church inscriptions
2. ნუსხური (Nuskhuri, 9th century) — Lowercase-like, used by monks for manuscripts
3. მხედრული (Mkhedruli, 13th century) — The modern script you’re learning

All three are recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. The modern Mkhedruli has been in continuous use for over 700 years.

What makes this especially remarkable: the Georgian script was almost certainly invented independently — not derived from Greek, Aramaic, or any other writing system. Georgian is one of only 14 scripts currently in use worldwide that was independently created. When you learn to read Georgian, you’re engaging with a genuinely unique human invention.

Tips for Learning the Alphabet Fast

1. Learn in groups, not all 33 at once

Start with the 5 vowels, then add consonants in batches of 5-7. Begin with the most common letters: ს, მ, ნ, რ, ლ, დ, თ, კ. Then add the less common ones.

2. Use real signs and menus

Walk around Tbilisi (or use Google Street View if you’re not in Georgia yet) and sound out every sign you see. You’ll be slow at first, then faster. Within a week, you’ll read instinctively.

3. Watch our alphabet video

Our YouTube video teaches all 33 letters using progressive immersion: we start with familiar loan words and gradually introduce Georgian letters. By the end, you’re reading pure Georgian text.

4. Write by hand

Download a Georgian alphabet worksheet or just copy letters into a notebook. The motor memory of writing reinforces visual recognition. You don’t need beautiful handwriting — just connect the movement to the sound.

5. Skip transliteration entirely

Resist the urge to write Georgian in Latin letters. It creates a crutch that slows your reading speed. Go straight to Georgian script — your future self will thank you.

6. Use our flashcard app

The flashcard app shows you Georgian text first, training you to recognize words in script. Every vocabulary review session is also alphabet practice.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overthinking ejectives. You don’t need perfect ejective production from day one. Georgians will understand you even with non-ejective pronunciation. Perfect the sounds gradually through listening.

Reading too slowly. Speed matters. Once you know the letters, push yourself to read faster. Sound out words even if you don’t know what they mean. The goal is automatic recognition.

Ignoring handwriting. Georgian handwriting looks different from printed text (just like English cursive differs from print). You don’t need to write beautifully, but exposure to handwritten Georgian helps you read notes, signs, and messages.

What’s Next?

Once you can read Georgian script — even slowly — you’ve unlocked everything else. Here’s your path forward:

1. Build core vocabulary — Our audio course teaches essential words and phrases through listen-and-repeat lessons. No textbook needed
2. Practice with flashcards — The flashcard app uses spaced repetition to make vocabulary stick permanently — start with 49 free cards
3. Graduate to real Georgian — Our podcast series gives you authentic Georgian at a comprehensible level, with transcripts and translations
4. Master daily phrases — Check out 10 Georgian Phrases You’ll Use Every Day to start speaking immediately

The alphabet is your foundation. Everything else builds on it. And the best part? You can learn it today.

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Ready? Watch our Georgian alphabet video on YouTube and learn all 33 letters in under an hour. Or dive straight into the audio course to start speaking.