Georgian Vocabulary For Family Members And Relatives
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Learning family vocabulary in Georgian is essential for everyday conversations.
Family is the cornerstone of Georgian culture.
You’ll use these words frequently when speaking with locals.
Georgian has a very unique way of naming family members.
The most surprising fact for beginners is that the words for “mother” and “father” sound completely opposite to English.
Let’s look at the exact words you need to know to talk about your relatives.
Table of Contents:
Immediate family members
The most important words to learn first are the ones for your immediate family.
As mentioned, the Georgian words for mom and dad usually trick English speakers.
The word for mother is deda (დედა).
The word for father is mama (მამა).
It takes a little bit of practice to reverse these in your brain.
Here’s the vocabulary for your immediate family.
| English | Georgian | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Mother | დედა | deda |
| Father | მამა | mama |
| Parents | მშობლები | mshoblebi |
| Sister | და | da |
| Brother | ძმა | dzma |
| Siblings | და-ძმა | da-dzma |
| Child | შვილი | shvili |
| Son | ვაჟი | vazhi |
| Daughter | ქალიშვილი | kalishvili |
When talking about your siblings collectively, Georgians simply combine the words for sister and brother to make da-dzma.
Extended family members
Georgian vocabulary becomes very specific when you talk about your extended family.
Instead of one general word for “aunt” or “uncle”, Georgian uses different words depending on which side of the family they belong to.
Your mother’s sister is your deida.
Your father’s sister is your mamida.
The word for cousin is created by simply adding the word for child (shvili) to the end of the aunt or uncle’s title.
There’s also a regional variation to note regarding grandfathers.
In standard Georgian and Western Georgia, the word for grandfather is babua.
In Eastern Georgia, locals commonly use the word papa instead.
| English | Georgian | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Grandmother | ბებია | bebia |
| Grandfather | ბაბუა / პაპა | babua / papa |
| Aunt (mother’s sister) | დეიდა | deida |
| Aunt (father’s sister) | მამიდა | mamida |
| Aunt (uncle’s wife) | ბიცოლა | bitsola |
| Uncle (general / father’s brother) | ბიძა | bidza |
| Cousin (mother’s sister’s child) | დეიდაშვილი | deidashvili |
| Cousin (father’s sister’s child) | მამიდაშვილი | mamidashvili |
| Cousin (uncle’s child) | ბიძაშვილი | bidzashvili |
Husbands, wives, and in-laws
The words for in-laws follow a similar pattern of specificity.
There are separate words for a mother-in-law depending on whether she’s the husband’s mother or the wife’s mother.
If you want to refer to a spouse in a formal way, you use the word meughle.
For everyday conversations, you simply use the specific words for husband (kmari) or wife (tsoli).
| English | Georgian | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Wife | ცოლი | tsoli |
| Husband | ქმარი | kmari |
| Spouse (formal) | მეუღლე | meughle |
| Mother-in-law (husband’s mother) | დედამთილი | dedamtili |
| Mother-in-law (wife’s mother) | სიდედრი | sidedri |
| Father-in-law (husband’s father) | მამამთილი | mamamtili |
| Father-in-law (wife’s father) | სიმამრი | simamri |
Example sentences for talking about family
Now you can put these words into practice.
When you want to say that you “have” a family member, you must use the verb mqavs (მყავს).
This specific verb is only used for living things like people and animals.
Here are a few common ways to talk about your relatives in Georgian.
ეს ჩემი დედაა.
გაქვს და-ძმა?
მყავს ერთი ძმა და ორი და.
ჩემი ბაბუა თბილისში ცხოვრობს.
ის ჩემი დეიდაშვილია.
Notice how the word “is” gets attached to the end of the noun as the letter “a” in informal Georgian speech.
You can replace the family members in these examples to describe your own family tree.
