Lesson 11 – Alternative shapes of letters
You now know all 33 Georgian letters. However, as you may have noticed in the exercises, some letters can have several shapes depending on the font, and some fancy fonts can be difficult to read if you do not know these alternative shapes. We are going to learn the most common variants.
“Upper case”
As you already know, there are no small or capital letters in Georgian. However, some fonts achieve a capital-like effect by giving the same height to all letters. This effect is very common on road signs, titles, etc.
Different shapes
The bottom part of წ (ts’) can be triangular rather than round:
ტ (t’) has the shape of a circle with a “tail” than can be a short line or a kind of 8:
ლ (l) has sometimes one loop instead of three:
რ (r) can be written with only one loop and look like an h:
დ (d) can have a simple loop at the top:
ჯ (j) can look like an X with a small tail:
The hook in the middle of ჭ (ch’) can have different shapes. The bottom loop can be omitted:
Exercises
What fortress is this?
How do you say “Trinity Cathedral”?
How do you say “Palace of the President of Georgia”?
