Language/Georgian/Grammar/Adjective-Agreement
As a Georgian language teacher with over 20 years of experience, I know that adjectives and adverbs are essential for communicating ideas effectively with others. In this lesson, you will learn how to agree adjectives with nouns in gender, number, and case in Georgian.
With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Nouns with “many”, “much” and “a few” & Transitive Verbs VS Intransitive Verbs.
Adjective Agreement
Adjective agreement in Georgian involves matching the gender, number, and case of the adjective with the noun it describes. Let's look at each of these components in detail.
Gender Agreement
In Georgian, nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. Adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. For example:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| თბილი | /tʰbilil/ | City |
To make the adjective agree with the noun:
- For masculine nouns, the adjective ends in -ი (-i) - For feminine nouns, the adjective ends in -მა (-ma) - For neuter nouns, the adjective ends in -არა (-ara)
Examples:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| დიდი | /did͡ʒi/ | Big (masculine) |
| დიდია | /did͡ʒia/ | Big (feminine) |
| დიდიარა | /did͡ʒiara/ | Big (neuter) |
Number Agreement
Georgian nouns and adjectives also have singular and plural forms. Adjectives must agree with the number of the noun they describe. For example:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ბიჭი | /bit͡ʃi/ | Boy |
To make the adjective agree with the noun:
- For singular nouns, the adjective is in its base form - For plural nouns, the adjective ends in -ები (-ebi)
Examples:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ხმარიანი | /xmariani/ | Noisy (singular) |
| ხმარიანები | /xmarianebi/ | Noisy (plural) |
Case Agreement
Georgian nouns and adjectives also have different forms depending on their grammatical case. Adjectives must agree with the case of the noun they modify. For example:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ახალი კონტაქტი | /axali kont’akt’i/ | New contact |
To make the adjective agree with the noun:
- For nominative case, the adjective is in its base form - For genitive case, the adjective ends in -ს (-s) - For dative case, the adjective ends in -ს (-s) - For accusative case, the adjective is in its base form - For vocative case, the adjective is in its base form
Examples:
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| სრული | /sruli/ | Full (nominative) |
| სრულის | /srulisa/ | Full (genitive) |
| სრულის | /srulisa/ | Full (dative) |
| სრული | /sruli/ | Full (accusative) |
| ორი სრული | /ori sruli/ | Two full ones (vocative) |
Tips and Tricks
Here are a few tips and tricks to help you master Georgian adjective agreement:
- Memorize the gender of Georgian nouns to make it easier to match them with adjectives. - Pay attention to the endings of adjectives to match them with nouns according to number and case. - Practice, practice, practice! The more you use adjectives, the easier it will be to remember the correct forms.
That's it for this lesson on Georgian adjective agreement. In the next lesson, we will learn about comparison in Georgian. Keep up the good work!
Other Lessons
- Adverbs of Time
- Future Tense
- Adverbs produced from Adjectives
- Negative imperatives with “ნუ”
- Adverbs of purpose, reason, measure and interrogative adverbs
- Cases of the subject and direct object with transitive verbs
- Word Order
- Pronouns
- Noun Gender
- Conditional Mood
Sources