Reading Georgian road signs

Georgia writes in an alphabet of its own, found nowhere else: rounded letters, no capitals, and one letter for each sound. Road signs give the Georgian name first, usually with a Latin spelling under it.

The letters look alike at first, but there are only 33 of them, and the names are spelled exactly as they are said. Learn them and თბილისი (Tbilisi) or ბათუმი (Batumi) read themselves.

Georgian at a glance

Georgian has an alphabet of its own, used for the Georgian language only. It is read left to right and has no capital letters.

Every letter has exactly one sound and nothing is silent, so once you know the letters you can read any name.

The five vowels

Only these five are vowels. ი is the most common letter in place names: most of them end in it.

• აa
• ეe
• იi
• ოo
• უu

Easy consonants

These sound as their Latin letter does.

• ბb
• გg
• დd
• ვv
• ზz
• ლl
• მm
• ნn
• რr
• სs
• ჰh

One letter, two in English

Sounds that English spells with two letters have a letter of their own.

• შsh
• ჩch
• ცts
• ძdz
• ჯj
• ჟzh
• ხkh
• ღgh

Plain and sharp

Five sounds come in pairs: a breathy one and a sharp, clipped one. English spellings write both the same way, so you can read them alike.

ყ is a deep k from the throat: q in the official spelling, but usually k on maps.

• თt
• ტt
• ფp
• პp
• ქk
• კk
• ცts
• წts
• ჩch
• ჭch
• ყq

Long rows of consonants

Georgian happily puts four or five consonants in a row. No vowel hides between them and none is silent: just read every letter.

Name parts worth knowing

Some pieces come back again and again. Spot them and half the name is read.

The official spelling marks the sharp sounds with ’ (K’ut’aisi). Signs and maps leave it out, and so do the answers here. When you type, q and k both count for ყ.

Try it

Which city is on the sign?

All the letters

Alphabet

• აa
• ბb
• გg
• დd
• ეe
• ვv
• ზz
• თt
• იi
• კk’
• ლl
• მm
• ნn
• ოo
• პp’
• ჟzh
• რr
• სs
• ტt’
• უu
• ფp
• ქk
• ღgh
• ყq’
• შsh
• ჩch
• ცts
• ძdz
• წts’
• ჭch’
• ხkh
• ჯj
• ჰh

’ marks the sharp consonants. Road signs leave it out.

Every letter has one sound, and nothing is left unwritten. Five pairs look alike in Latin letters: თ and ტ are both t, ფ and პ p, ქ and კ k, ც and წ ts, ჩ and ჭ ch (the second of each is said sharply). ყ is a throaty k, written q.

The 166 places in the quiz

The quiz has towns and villages from every region of Georgia (without Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where GeoGuessr has no coverage), plus well-known resorts and monasteries.