Lesson 9 – ღ, ძ, ჰ
ღ (gh)
This sound does not exist in English: it is the voiced version of ხ (kh). “Voiced” means that the sound is produced by a vibration of the vocal chords. In English, z is voiced and s is not; the difference between them is the same as the difference between ღ and ხ. The sound of ღ is very close to a French r. It is sometimes transcribed as g on road signs, but g and gh are completely different sounds.
ძ (dz)
This letter is pronounced like dz in English. It is considered a single sound in Georgian. Don’t mix it up with ხ (kh): it faces the other direction. To remember which is which, I noticed that ძ is pronounced with a d at the beginning and is the one that looks like a d.
ჰ (h)
This letter is pronounced like h in English.
Exercises
Can you guess the meaning of the following words?
Here are some more Georgian words.
Brother
Milk
Dog
Air
