A Practical Guide To Telling Time And Dates In Georgian
Author
Telling the time and reading dates are essential skills for everyday life in Georgia.
You need this vocabulary to catch a marshrutka, schedule a meeting, or make dinner plans.
I’ll explain exactly how to express time and dates in Georgian using clear examples.
You’ll quickly learn how to handle schedules and calendars with confidence.
Table of Contents:
How to ask for the time
Before you can tell the time, you need to know how to ask for it.
The word for “time” or “hour” in Georgian is saati.
To ask for the current time, you literally ask “which hour is it?”.
რომელი საათია?
Telling the exact hour
When the time is exactly on the hour, you simply say the number followed by saatia.
The only exception is 1:00, which uses the word for “first” instead of the number one.
For every other hour, use the standard Georgian numbers.
პირველი საათია.
ორი საათია.
ხუთი საათია.
თორმეტი საათია.
Expressing minutes, halves, and quarters
Georgian uses a unique system for minutes that looks forward to the next hour.
If the time is past the hour, you state the upcoming hour in the genitive case, followed by the minutes.
სამის ათი წუთია.
For the half-hour mark, you use the word nakhevaria, which means “half”.
ხუთის ნახევარია.
When the time is approaching the next hour, you use the word aklia, which means “it lacks”.
ექვსს აკლია ათი წუთი.
You can also use the word meotkhedi to express a quarter of an hour.
რვის მეოთხედია.
რვას აკლია მეოთხედი.
Days of the week
The Georgian days of the week are mostly based on the word shabati (Saturday).
You’ll notice that Monday through Thursday literally count up from one to four.
Here’s a table of the days of the week in Georgian.
| English | Georgian | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | ორშაბათი | orshabati |
| Tuesday | სამშაბათი | samshabati |
| Wednesday | ოთხშაბათი | otkhshabati |
| Thursday | ხუთშაბათი | khutshabati |
| Friday | პარასკევი | paraskevi |
| Saturday | შაბათი | shabati |
| Sunday | კვირა | kvira |
Months of the year
The months of the year in Georgian are very similar to English.
They’re based on the Latin calendar, so they’ll sound instantly familiar to you.
| English | Georgian | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| January | იანვარი | ianvari |
| February | თებერვალი | tebervali |
| March | მარტი | marti |
| April | აპრილი | aprili |
| May | მაისი | maisi |
| June | ივნისი | ivnisi |
| July | ივლისი | ivlisi |
| August | აგვისტო | agvisto |
| September | სექტემბერი | sektemberi |
| October | ოქტომბერი | oktomberi |
| November | ნოემბერი | noemberi |
| December | დეკემბერი | dekemberi |
Reading full dates
To ask for the current date, you ask “what number is today?”.
რა რიცხვია დღეს?
When stating a date, you simply say the number followed by the month.
დღეს ოცდაექვსი მაისია.
If you want to say that something happens specifically on a certain date, you must change the ending of the words.
You drop the final vowel of the number and the month, and add an “s” to the month.
კონცერტი ოცდაექვს მაისს არის.
To include the year, simply state the full number of the year before the word tsels (in the year).
მე დავიბადე ათას ცხრაას ოთხმოცდაათ წელს.
