Basic Georgian Phrases for Travelers: 40 Words and Sentences That Open Doors

Georgia is one of those countries where a few words of the local language change the whole trip. English works in Tbilisi hotels and Batumi cafés, but step into a village guesthouse, a market in Kutaisi or a family supper table and a simple გამარჯობა (gamarjoba, "hello") gets you a warmer welcome than any phrasebook sentence ever could.

This guide gives you about 40 travel phrases in Georgian script with a pronunciation guide, grouped by situation, plus a short plan for actually remembering them once you land. You do not need to read the alphabet first — though it helps, and we have a one-week guide to the Georgian alphabet when you are ready.

How to read the pronunciation guides

Georgian spelling is almost perfectly phonetic: one letter, one sound. The transliteration below follows common English-friendly conventions, with a few sounds worth knowing in advance:

• kh is a throaty "h", like the ch in Scottish "loch" (as in khachapuri).
• gh is a voiced version of that sound, a bit like a French "r" (as in ghvino, "wine").
• An apostrophe after a consonant, like ts'q'ali, marks an ejective: a sharper, "popped" sound with no puff of air. Do not worry about getting it perfect — locals will understand you either way.
• dz and ts are single sounds, as in "adze" and "cats".

Greetings and politeness

These are the phrases you will use dozens of times a day. Georgians greet shopkeepers, taxi drivers and guesthouse hosts, so say them first and say them with a smile.

A tip on yes: დიახ (diakh) is polite and safe; კი (ki) is what you will hear most in everyday speech.

Getting by in a conversation

You will not understand every reply, and that is fine. These sentences keep the exchange friendly while you find your footing.

• როგორ ხარ? (rogor khar?) — How are you?
• კარგად ვარ, მადლობა. (kargad var, madloba.) — I am well, thank you.
• არ მესმის. (ar mesmis.) — I do not understand.
• ინგლისურად ლაპარაკობთ? (inglisurad laparakobt?) — Do you speak English?
• დამეხმარეთ, გთხოვთ. (damekhmaret, gtkhovt.) — Please help me.

Directions and transport

Many place words are borrowings, so you may recognize more than you expect. Look at ტაქსი (taksi) and აეროპორტი (aeroporti): once you know the letters, they read like English.

Food, drink and the supper table

Georgian hospitality is built around the table, and this is where a few phrases pay off the most.

At a supra (a traditional feast), toasts are a ritual led by a toastmaster, and გაუმარჯოს (gaumarjos) is the word you will hear again and again. You will also want to know the two dishes every visitor meets first: ხაჭაპური (khachapuri, cheese bread) and ხინკალი (khinkali, soup dumplings).

Shopping and numbers

Numbers one to five plus რა ღირს? (ra ghirs?) cover most market haggling and ordering.

How to actually remember these phrases

A list like this is easy to read and just as easy to forget. Research on memory shows that most new words fade within days unless you revisit them at growing intervals — the pattern we describe in the forgetting curve and put to work in what is spaced repetition. A practical plan for a trip:

1. Three weeks before: learn the greetings table and the five "conversation" sentences. Say them out loud.
2. Two weeks before: add directions and food. Review the earlier cards on the schedule the app gives you rather than all at once.
3. One week before: add numbers and shopping. Do a quick mixed review every day — five minutes is enough.
4. On the trip: use each phrase for real the first time you can. A phrase spoken to a real person sticks far better than one only seen on a screen.

LexiNest's Georgian course uses spaced repetition so each phrase comes back just before you would forget it. For active recall, try a round of the typing trainer or the matching game — typing the pronunciation from the Georgian script is a quick way to cement the letters at the same time.

If you are curious how big a vocabulary you really need, how many words you need to be fluent puts the numbers in perspective: for travel, a few dozen well-chosen phrases go a surprisingly long way.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to learn the Georgian alphabet before a trip?

No. The pronunciation guides above are enough to speak. Reading signs and menus is easier with the alphabet, though, and the script is more regular than it looks — most learners get through it in about a week.

Is English widely spoken in Georgia?

In Tbilisi, Batumi and other tourist areas you will find English in hotels, restaurants and tours. Outside the cities it is much less common, and older speakers often know Russian rather than English. Georgian phrases help everywhere.

What is the single most useful Georgian word?

მადლობა (madloba, "thank you") followed closely by გამარჯობა (gamarjoba, "hello"). Both are warmly received and cost nothing to learn.

Is Georgian related to Russian or Turkish?

No. Georgian belongs to the Kartvelian language family and is not related to Russian, Turkish or any major European language. It also has its own alphabet, Mkhedruli.

How long does it take to learn enough Georgian for a holiday?

With 10 minutes a day of spaced-repetition practice, the phrases in this guide are realistic in three to four weeks.