Language/Georgian/Grammar/Preverbs-and-their-functions
a) Preverbs show the direction of a verbal act.
მი- away (from the I person) მიდის “he/she/it goes” მო- towards (to the I person) მოდის “he/she/it comes” ა- up ადის “he/she/it rises/goes up” და- down; sometimes an intensive act დადის “he/she/it walks”; “it goes down” (e.g. temperature) ჩა- down inside ჩადის “he/she/it descends/goes down(hill)” შე- from outside to inside შედის “he/she/it enters/goes in” გა- from inside to outside გადის “he/she/it goes out” (e.g. from the house) გადა- over a barrier გადადის “he/she/it crosses/goes over (something)” წა- away წავიდა “he/she/it left/went away”
All these preverbs show the direction away from the I person except “მო-”. They are simple preverbs, but they can have “მო-” added to become complex preverbs. By adding “მო-” the direction becomes orientated towards the I person. So, all complex preverbs show the direction to the I person.
ამო- up ამოდის “he/she/it rises/comes up” ჩამო- down inside ჩამოდის “he/she/it arrives/comes down” შემო- from outside to inside შემოდის “he/she/it enters/comes in” გამო- from inside to outside გამოდის “he/she/it emerges/comes out” გადმო- over a barrier გადმოდის “he/she/it comes across/over” წამო- towards the I person წამოვიდა “he/she/it came over/out”
b) When preverbs produce new rows of conjugation in the I series, then they don’t show any direction.
ხატავს “he/she/it paints” დახატავს “he/she/it will paint” წერს “he/she/it writes” დაწერს “he/she/it will write” No verbal direction is exposed here.
c) Preverbs don’t show direction while producing the perfective aspect.
Compare:
Imperfective Perfective ვხატე “I was painting” დავხატე “I painted” ვწერე “I was writing” დავწერე “I wrote”
d) Sometimes preverbs change the meaning of a word:
მოიგო “he/she won [it]” (e.g. the game or money) გაიგო “he/she understood [it]” წააგო “he/she lost [it]” მიხვდა “he/she realized/understood [it]” მოხვდა “he/she got [it]” შეხვდა “he/she met [him/her/them]” დახვდა “he/she met (ran into) [it/him/her/them]”
Sources
http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/3071/1/Basic-Georgian%202%20bolo%20versia.pdf