Kartuli: what Georgians call their own language.

ქართული is the adjective “Georgian” — kartuli ena (ქართული ენა) is “the Georgian language”. A Georgian person is ქართველი (kartveli), and the country is Sakartvelo: all from the same root, kart-, after Kartlos, the legendary ancestor of the Georgians.

So when someone says they are learning kartuli, they mean Georgian — the English name comes from a different, older root and is not used inside Georgia itself.

• Three syllables: KAR-tu-li.
• ქ is an aspirated “k” — like the k in “kit”, with a puff of air. (The ejective კ is a different letter, and Georgians hear the difference.)
• The “u” is the vowel of “rule”, and the “r” is a light single tap.

Hearing it beats reading about it: the free Phonetics course in tqvi lets you hear Georgian words in two voices, at normal and careful speed.

Both spellings mean ქართული. “Kartuli” is the spelling learners and books use; “qartuli” is how Georgians themselves type it in chats, where the letter q stands for ქ. If you saw qartuli in a message or a search suggestion, it is the same word.

• გამარჯობა (gamarjoba) — “hello”
• როგორ ხარ? (rogor khar?) — “how are you?”
• მადლობა (madloba) — “thank you”

tqvi teaches kartuli one sentence at a time, building on what you already understand. Courses run A1 through B1, in English or Russian, and the first 10 lessons are free.