Articles
Georgian has no articles at all — no the, no a. ქალი kali means "woman", "a woman", or "the woman", and context does the rest. Your job in this chapter is to unlearn a habit, not learn a table.
One noun, three English translations
| Georgian | could mean |
|---|---|
| წიგნი ts'igni | book / a book / the book |
| კაცი მოვიდა k'atsi movida | a man came / the man came |
| წყალი მინდა ts'q'ali minda | I want water / I want the water |
Nothing is missing. Georgians never feel the gap, and after a few weeks neither will you.
How Georgian does the job of the
When definiteness actually matters, the language has tools:
| tool | how it works | example |
|---|---|---|
| Context | usually enough — if a book was just mentioned, წიგნი is "the book" | — |
| Word order | known information tends to come first, new information later | კაცი მოვიდა k'atsi movida — "the man came" vs მოვიდა კაცი movida k'atsi — "a man came" |
| Demonstratives | ეს es "this" and ის is "that" step in where English needs a firm "the/this/that" | ეს წიგნი es ts'igni — "this book" |
The demonstratives ეს and ის
| word | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| ეს es | this (near me) | ეს სახლი es sakhli — "this house" |
| ეგ eg | that (near you) | ეგ წიგნი eg ts'igni — "that book (by you)" |
| ის is | that (over there / already mentioned) | ის კაცი is k'atsi — "that man" |
Three distances instead of English's two — near me, near you, far from both. ეგ eg is common in speech; if you only remember ეს and ის you will still be fine.
Note that ის is is also the pronoun "he/she/it" (see the pronouns chapter). Georgian recycles it happily.
How Georgian does the job of a
- Nothing: the bare noun is the default. მანქანა მყავს mankana mq'avs — "I have a car."
- ერთი erti "one" when you want to stress "a certain / one particular": ერთი კაცი erti k'atsi — "a (certain) man", the standard way to open a story.
What to actually do
- Say the bare noun. Resist inserting anything where the or a would go.
- Reach for ეს/ის only when you would point or stress "this/that" in English.
- Use ერთი only when "one" or "a certain" fits.
That's the whole chapter — the rarest thing in grammar: a topic where Georgian is strictly easier than English.
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