Language/Georgian/Grammar/Verbs-Destination-System

Verbs Destination System in Georgian

Georgian verbs have a destination system. The verbs show to whom (to which verbal person) is the verbal act destinated or oriented towards. There are three types of version:

a) Neutral – with prefix markers “ა-” and “Ø-” (absence of a marker). “I paint it” – ვხატავ.

b) Subjective – with the prefix marker “ი-”. “I paint it for myself” – ვიხატავ. The verbal act is done for the subject itself.

c) Objective – with the prefix marker “ი-” for the indirect object of the I and II persons and “უ-” for the indirect object of the III person. Compare: “I paint it for you” – გიხატავ and “I paint it for him/her” – ვუხატავ. The verbal act is performed for the indirect object.

The subjective version exposes the subject acting on its own body and the subject performing the verbal act for his own self. Only two-personal transitive verbs have this form of version. Examples: ვიბან ტანს/პირს (“I wash [my] body/face”), ვივარცხნი თმას (“I comb [my] hair”), ვირეცხავ ტანსაცმელს (“I wash [my] clothes”). All markers of version are prefixes. They appear after personal prefixes.

Sources

http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/3071/1/Basic-Georgian%202%20bolo%20versia.pdf

Related Lessons

• Negation
• The Genitive Case
• Conjugation verb “to be” ყოფნა in the past tense
• Third person pronouns
• Postpositions of the Genitive
• Orthography Words ending at “—ს”, “—მ”, “—ზ” and “—შ”
• Noun Inflection
• Adjectives Degrees
• Types of Verbs
• The postposition of the Dative