Georgian, a language that belongs to the Caucasian languages family, has a grammar that is remarkably different from Indo-European languages. While some of its characteristics are akin to those of Slavic languages, Georgian grammar has many distinct features.

Georgian language has its own unique alphabet. In this article, the latin alphabet equivalents of Georgian sounds will be used throughout, in order to make it easier for a native English speaker to understand the examples.

Case system

Georgian has seven cases of the noun: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, instrumental, adverbial and vocative.

• Nominative case is usually (though not always) the subject of a sentence. It can also be the object of the sentence in some situations.
• In the past screeve of the transitive verbs and in the present screeve of the the verb to know, the ergative case is the subject of the sentence (see the Verbal system and Examples sections for more details).
• Dative case is mostly (though not always) the direct object of a transitive verb and can also be the subject of a sentence.
• The genitive case is the equivalent of the preposition of, or the suffix -'s in English. In the phrase, "the republic of Georgia", the word "Georgia" is in the genitive case.
• The instrumental case corresponds to the preposition with in English, as in, "he is cutting with a knife," where the word "knife" is in the instrumental case.
• The adverbial case's most common usage is adverbs. It is also used in some other arbitrary contexts, especially while using the name of languages. For example, in the sentence "can you translate this to Georgian?", Georgian is in the adverbial case.
• The vocative case is used in addressing someone, and therefore only exists for the second person singular and plural. A famous example is batono? (meaning "sir?"), used when, for example, a mother calls her child, and the child says "yes?"

Declension of nouns

The declension of a noun depends on whether the root of the noun ends with a vowel or a consonant. If the root of the noun ends with a vowel, the declension can be either truncating (roots ending with -e or -a) or non-truncating (roots ending with -o or -u). In the truncating declensions, the last vowel of the word stem is lost in the genitive and the instrumental cases. The table below lists the suffixes for each noun case, with an example next to it.

(* truncation of the last vowel occurs)

Declension of pronouns

The following table lists the declension of all six personal pronouns.

Adjectives

The declension of adjectives, just like nouns, depends on whether the root of the adjective ends with a consonant or a vowel. However the declension of adjectives are different. While the vowel-final-stem adjectives are declined the same way for all cases, consonant-final-stem adjectives are declined differently in each case. The two examples that will be presented are did- (big) and ç'aghara- (grey) with the noun datv- (bear).

Possesive adjectives

The possesive adjectives, mein, your, his/her, our, your (plural) and their are declined according to the following table.

Plural suffix -eb

In Georgian, the plural suffix -eb is attached to the root of the noun. The case suffix follows the plural suffix. Some examples are:

• The nominative case of men in Georgian is constructed as, k'ats+eb+i, while the ergative case would be, k'ats+eb+ma.
• The nominative case of trees in Georgian (xe, root ending with truncating vowel -e) is, xe+eb+i, while the dative case would be, xe+eb+s.
• The nominative case of girls in Georgian (gogo, root ending with non-truncating vowel -o) is, gogo+eb+i, while the instrumental case would be, gogo+eb+is.

Post-positions

Unlike many Indo-European languages, Georgian does not have prepositions. Instead, the positional particles are added to the end of the nouns either as suffixes or as seperate words. Each post-position requires a specific case of the noun (this is akin to the usage of prepositions in German). While only one preposition requires the nominative case of the noun (-vit, "like"), there are no post-positions that require the ergative and the vocative cases. Here are some examples of postpositions:

¹ The post-position -vit could also take the dative case in its elongated form (with an insertion of -a- in between the case suffix and the postposition.

² In the usage of post-position -shi the dative case suffix -s is dropped

³ In the usage of post-position -mde the adverbial case suffix -d is dropped

Full noun declensions

In Georgian the suffixes are added to a noun in the following order:

• Noun root + plural suffix + case suffix + postposition

• Some examples are:

Verbal system

Georgian verbal system is considered to be complicated when compared to most Indo-European languages. Rather than using the term tense, linguists prefer to use the term screeve to distinguish between different time frames and moods of the verbal system. There are also four classes of verbs: transitive, intransitive, verbs with no transitive counterparts (medial verbs ) and indirect verbs. There are numerous irregular verbs in Georgian, but they all belong to one of these classes. Each class uses different construction strategies to build the verb complex, irregular verbs employing somewhat different formations.

Verb classes

Transitive verbs (Class 1 verbs)

Transitive verbs have a direct object. Some examples are eat, kill and receive. This class also includes causatives and verb form of adjectives. This is the equivalent of "make someone do something" in English. An example of verb form of adjectives can be thought as deaf and "make someone deaf."

There are a few verbs in Georgian that do not have a direct object yet behave like transitive verbs in terms of their congugations. Some linguists argue that the verbs in question are Class 1 verbs, whereas others argue that they are intransitive, while explaining the transitive-verb-conjugation behavior as an irregularity.

Intransitive verbs (Class 2 verbs)

Intransitive verbs do not have a direct object, and the passive voice of the transitive verbs belong to this class. Examples are be eaten, be killed and be received. Not all the intransitive verbs are passive voice; verbs such as happen and die also belong to this class. In addition, the verb form of adjectives also have their intransitive counterparts: the intransitive verb for the adjective deaf is to become deaf.

Medial verbs (Class 3 verbs)

These verbs behave mainly like transitive verbs in their conjugations with the exception of few differences. Most verbs with motion (such as swim and role) and verbs about weather (such as rain and snow) belong to this class. Although these verbs are described as not having transitive counterparts (such as cry), some of them still have direct objects, such as learn and study. Verbs that are derived from loan words also belong to this class.

Indirect verbs (Class 4 verbs)

Verbs that convey the meaning of emotion and prolonged state belong to this class. The verbs want and can also belong to this class. Other common examples of Class 4 verbs are sleep, miss, envy and believe.

Stative verbs

Stative verbs do not constitude a class per se, but rather refer to a state, and their conjugations are very similar to those of indirect verbs. For example, when one says, "the picture is hanging on the wall," hanging is a stative verb.

Irregular verbs

There are numerous irregular verbs in Georgian, however they do not constitude a seperate class. All irregular verbs employ the conjugation system of intransitive verbs. Just like English, irregular verbs use different verb roots in different screeves. In addition, their conjugations deviate from the conjugations of regular intransitive verbs. Some irregular verbs are: to be, to come, to say, to tell and to give.

Screeves

There are three series of screeves in Georgian: first, second and third series. The first series has two subseries, which are called the present and the future subseries. The second series is also called as the aorist series, and the third series is called the perfective series. There are total eleven screeves.

• The present indicative is used to express an event at the time of speaking (He/she is verbing). It is also used to indicate an event that happens over a long period of time (He/she verbs).

• The imperfect screeve is used to express an incomplete or continuous action in the past (He/she was verbing). It is also used to indicate the meaning of used to (He/she used to verb).

• The present subjunctive screeve is used to express an unlikely event in the present and is usually used as a relative cluase (He/she be verbing).

• The future screeve is used to express an events that will take place in the future (He/she will verb).

• The conditional screeve is used together with if (He/she would verb, or, He/she would have verbed).

• The future subjunctive screeve is used to express an unlikely event in the future and is usually used as a dependant clause.

• The aorist screeve is used to indicate an action that took place in the past (He/she verbed). It is also used in imperatives (Verb!).

• The optative screeve has many uses:
  • In negative imperatives (Do not verb!).
  • In obligations (He/she must verb).
  • In unreal conditions (If he/she verbed (optative), X would happen (conditional).
  • In exhortations (Let's verb).

• The perfect screeve is used to indicate an action, which the speaker did not witness (He/she has verbed).

• The pluperfect screeve is used to indicate an action which happened before another event (He/she had verbed).

• The perfect subjunctive screeve is mostly for wishes (May he/she verb!).

Verb components

Georgian is an agglutinative language, meaning that each verb screeve is formed by adding a number of prefixes and suffixes to the verb stem, such as a preverb, nominal marker, versioner, passive marker, thematic suffix, causative marker, imperfective marker, suffixal nominal marker, auxiliary verb and a plural marker. A verb screeve is formed by placing the prefixes and the suffixes in the following order:

Preverb

Preverbs are one or two letter prefixes, which can add both directionality or an arbitrary meaning to the verb. This is a system akin to Slavic languages. For example, while mi-vdivar means, " I am going," mo-vdivar means "I am coming."

Preverbs are generally absent in the present screeves, and emerge in the rest of the screeves (future, past and perfective).

Nominal Marker (prefixal)

Nominal Marker follows the preverb (if present) and indicates which person performs the action or for which person the verb is done. There are also suffixal nominal markers, which come after the verb root (see the tables below). In Georgian there are two sets of nominal markers, which are called the v- set, and the m-- set. Here are the tables for the prefixal and suffixal nominal markers for both sets:

v- set:

m- set:

An example of conjugation of a verb in the present screeve, which uses the v- set. The verb root is -ts'er- ("write"):

In the case of v-ts'er-t, ts'ert, and ts'er-en, the -t and -en are the plural markers which come at the end of the verb trunk (see the plural marker below).

An example of conjugation of a verb in the present screeve, which uses the m- set. The verb root is -nd- ("want"):

In the case of g-i-nd-a-t and u-nd-a-t, the -t is the plural marker.

Verbs which use one set to indicate the subject employ the other set to denote the object (direct or indirect, depending upon the character of the verb). This enables the verb to encapsulate both the doer of the action and the benefactor (indirect object) or the direct object, which is also called polypersonalism . For example, while it takes four words to say "I wrote it to them" in English ("I" being the subject, "it" being the direct object, "them" being the indirect object), in Georgian this can all be said in one word.

Versions

There are four vowels in Georgian (a,e,i,u) one of which may be placed right after the nominal marker. While they can add an arbitrary meaning to the verb, the versioners can also establish the meanings of causatives, passive voice, subjective version, objective version and locative version. For example, while v-ts'er means "I write it," v-u-ts'er means "I write it to him/her," v-a-ts'er means "I write it on him/her," and v-i-ts'er means "I write it (for myself)" (subjective version).

Verb root

The verb root generally ranges from one letter up to seven letters (though there can be extremes with up to 15 letters). There are significant number of verbs whose roots are only one letter. For example, the root of the verbs open, receive, take and take a picture is the letter -ġ-. These verbs, then, are distinguished rather through the use of appropriate preverbs, versioners and thematic suffixes. For example mi-v-i-ġ-e ts'erili means "I received the letter," whereas ga-a-ġ-eb k'ars means "You will open the door."

Passive marker

In Georgian, one way of converting a transitive verb to an intransitive verb (or to passive voice) is to add the passive marker -d- to the end of the verb root. An example is as follows: ga-a-ts'itl-e means "you made him blush." To make this intransitive, we add the the letter -d- to the end of the root -ts'itl- (also the root of the word ts'iteli, "red"): ga-ts'itl-d-i ("you blushed").

Verbs which do not employ the passive marker -d- for passive voice, use the -i- versioner instead. For example, da-v-bad-eb means "I give birth to you." In passive voice (class 2 verb now), we have, da-v-i-bad-eb-i, "I am born" (the additional -i- at the end of the verb is the suffixal nominal marker which has to be used in intransitive verbs (see below)).

Thematic suffix

The language has eight kinds of thematic suffixes, which are mostly made of two phonemes. When the suffixal passive marker is absent, one of these suffixes can be placed right after the root of the verb. With these suffixes the verbs gain arbitrary meanings. Thematic suffixes are present in the present and future screeves, but are absent in the past and mostly absent in the perfective screeves. For example, the root of the verb "build" is -şen-. In order to say "I am building," we have to add the thematic suffix -eb- to the end of the root: v-a-şen-eb (v- meaning that the doer is the first person (v- set nominal marker), a is the versioner, şen is the root, and eb is the thematic suffix). To say "he/she is building," we simply add the suffixal nominal marker -s after the thematic suffix: a-şen-eb-s.

Causative marker

In English this corresponds to "make someone verb". This marker is placed right after the thematic suffix (if present) and uses the versioner a. There is not one fixed causative marker in Georgian. Mostly it is the suffix in-eb or rarely ev. For example, ç'am means "you eat." To make this a causative, we add the versioner a right before the root and add the causative marker ev right after the verb root with the syncope of the letter a: a-ç'Øm-ev (aç'mev, "you make him eat").

Imperfective marker

This marker (-d- for class 1 verbs, and -od- for class 2 verbs) is used to build the imperfective, present and future subjunctive and conditional screeves. This marker is added right after the thematic suffix (if present). For example, while v-a-shen-eb means "I am building," v-a-shen-eb-d-i means "I was building" (the additional -i- at the end of the verb is the suffixal nominal marker which (see below)). While v-ts'er means "I am writing," v-ts'er-d-i means "I was writing" (as the verb "write" does not have a thematic suffix, the imperfective marker is added right after the verb root).

Nominal marker (suffixal)

The transitive verbs (which employ the v- set), use the suffixal nominal marker -s (examples: a-şen-eb-s, ts'er-s) for the third person singular in persent and future screeves. Intransitive verbs, the past and perfective screeves of the transitive and medial verbs, and indirect verbs, employ vowel suffixal nominal marker. The marker is either i (strong) or e (weak) for the first two persons, and o or a for the third person in indicative screeves. Whereas in the subjunctive screeves the marker is generally e or o or, less frequently, a for all three persons. For example, in order to say "I built", we have to make three changes to the sentence "I am building" (vaşeneb):

First, we have to add the preverb a to the begining of the verb complex (as preverbs emerge outside the present screeves). Second, we have to remove the thematic suffix eb (as thematic suffixes are absent in the past screeves). Finally, we have to add the suffixal nomimal marker e (weak) to the end of the root. Thus the verb becomes, a-v-a-şen-Ø-e (avaşene, "I built"). Here, both the prefixal nominal marker v and the suffixal nominal marker e indicate that it is the first person who did the action. To say, "he built," (third person) we add the nominal marker a right after the verb root, as this is the indicative past screeve: a-a-şen-a.

Auxillary verb

Auxillary verb is only used in the present indicative and perfective screeves of indirect verbs and in the perfective screeve of transitive verbs when the direct object is first or second person(s) (these are situations, where the m- set is used for the subject of the verb, and, therefore, v- set is used to indicate the direct object). The auxillary verb is the same verb as to be in present screeve. The verb to be for the first singular two persons are: Me var ("I am") and Şen xar ("You are"). For example, miq'vars means "I love him/her" (the s at the end of the verb indicating that it is the third person whom the speaker loves). In order to say "I love you," the s at the end has to be replaced with xar (as, now, the direct object is the second person): miq'var-xar ("I love you").

Plural marker

Depending upon which set of nominal markers is employed, the appropriate plural suffix is placed at the end of the verb trunk. The plural marker is not only used to indicate the subject, but it can also be used to state the plurality of the object: while miq'varxar means "I love you (singular)," miq'varxar-t means "I love you (plural)."

Auxillary verbs

In addition to the possible auxillary verb in the verb complex, there are also seperate ones. Just like in English, Georgian language has the auxillary verbs, such as want, must (have to) and can.

• The verb ndoma ("to want") is conjugated just like any other class 4 verbs. In order to say, "to want to do something", one can use either the infinitive form of the verb (masdari) or the optative screeve.

• The verb unda ("must") is not conjugated. However, just like the verb want, it uses the optative screeve in "must do something." In order to say "had to," one, again, uses the same word unda, but with the pluperfect screeve.

• The verb shedzleba ("can") is a class 4 verb, and thus conjugated accordingly. Just like the verb want, it uses either the optative screeve or the infinitive form of the verb. In order to say "will be able to" and "could," the future and the aorist screeves are used respectively. The negation of "can" in Georgian is established with a special negation particle ver which, when used, contains the meaning "cannot," and, thus, the verb shedzleba is not used with it (see the negation section of Syntax for more details).

Syntax

Word order

The word order in Georgian is not as strict as English's SVO structure. While there is not a strict word order, one common sentence structure is:

• Subject - indirect object - direct object - verb. An example can be:

• Me          dedas               ts'erils         vts'er

• I (am)-nominative- (to) my mother-dative (a) letter-dative writing-present screeve

• I am writing my mother a letter.

However it is also possible to construct this sentence in the following order, which is similar to English:

• Subject - verb - direct object - indirect object

• Me          vts'er      ts'erils       dedas

• I (am)-nominative- writing-present screeve (a) letter-dative (to) my mother-dative

In Georgian since the verbs always encapsulate the meaning of the subject, the subject of any sentence can always be dropped. Therefore, the above two examples can take the forms:

• Dedas ts'erils vts'er

• Vts'er ts'erils dedas

Questions

Yes/No questions

To ask a yes/no question in Georgian, neither the word order is changed, nor a question particle is added. Only the intonation of the sentence is altered (with the pitch getting higher towards the end of the sentence). A simple example can be:

• Chemtan ertad moxval ("you will come with me") and Chemtan ertad moxval? ("will you come with me?")

Interrogatives

In Georgian interrogative adjectives and interrogative pronouns are declined differently. An example of an interrogative adjective can be "which," as in "which city do you like the most?" While an example of an interrogative pronoun "which" is in the sentence "which (one) will you take?"

Some interrogative pronouns in Georgian are:

Negation

Examples

Verb conjugation

Even though one knows all the prefixes and suffixes, verb conjugation still remains a difficult subject for Georgian learners. This is mainly because of the arbitrariness of:

1- Preverb (although preverbs have directional meaning, most of the time it is totally arbitrary which verb root takes which preverb. Therefore there is no other way than memorizing the appropriate preverb for each verb).

2- Versioner (there is a similar situation with versioners. Even though each versioner has a special meaning in some cases, in most of the conjugations it is arbitrary as for which verb takes the which versioner).

3- Thematic suffix (thematic suffixes are totally arbitrary. Unlike preverbs, they do not convey a directional meaning. One definite case is that intransitive counterparts (class 2) of transitive verbs (class 1) always have the thematic suffix -eb in the present and future series of screeves (with the appropriate passive marker). Another definite case is that almost all medial verbs have the thematic suffix -ob for the present screeves, and -eb for the future screeves.

In addition, one also has to take into account which suffixal nominal marker is to be used. This is, however, not arbitrary. The use of appropriate suffixal nominal marker depends on the thematic suffix. Although it varies from one thematic suffix to another, the general rule is that if there is a vowel in the root, the weak conjugation (-e) is employed for the aorist screeve of class 1,2,3 verbs, otherwise strong conjugation (-i) is employed (with an insertion of vowel -e- or -a into the root). However irregular verbs have arbitrary suffixal nominal markers, which have to be memorized seperately.

Class 1 (transitive verbs)

• In the present and future sub-series, the subject is in the nominative case and both the direct and indirect objects are in the dative case. The subject is indicated by the v- set marker, while the object is indicated by the m- set marker.
• In the aorist series, the subject is in the ergative case while the direct object is in the nominative case. Indirect object is in the dative case. The subject is indicated by the v- set marker, while the object is indicated by the m- set marker.
• In the perfective series, the subject is in the dative case while the direct object is in the nominative case. Indirect object is usually indicated with the post-position -tvis (for). The subject is indicated by the m- set marker, while the object is indicated by the v- set marker.

• In the present sub-series, the preverbs are absent, but the thematic suffixes do exist.
• In the future sub-series, the preverbs emerge, and the thematic suffixes remain.
• In the aorist series, the preverbs emerge, and the thematic suffixes are absent (mostly).
• In the prefective series, the preverbs emerge, and the thematic suffixes' presense depend on whether there is a vowel in the root of the verb. If there is a vowel, the thematic suffix remains, otherwise it is lost.

Here is a full conjugation of a verb with all persons in all screeves:

The verb root -shen-, infinite form -asheneba- ("to build"):
 In the present subseries, there is the thematic suffix, but no preverb:
 Present indicative:                               Imperfect:  ¹                 Present subjunctive: ²
 v-a-shen-eb (I am building)                       v-a-shen-eb-d-i               v-a-shen-eb-d-e
 a-shen-eb (you are building)                      a-shen-eb-d-i                 a-shen-eb-d-e
 a-shen-eb-s (s/he is building)                    a-shen-eb-d-a                 a-shen-eb-d-e-s
 v-a-shen-eb-t (we are building)                   v-a-shen-eb-d-i-t             v-a-shen-eb-d-e-t 
 a-shen-eb-t (you(p) are building)                 a-shen-eb-d-i-t               a-shen-eb-d-e-t 
 a-shen-eb-en (they are building)                  a-shen-eb-d-nen               a-shen-eb-d-nen
 In the future subseries, the preverb a- emerges:
 Future indicative:                                Conditional:                  Future subjunctive:
 a-v-a-shen-eb (I will build)                      a-v-a-shen-eb-d-i             a-v-a-shen-eb-d-e
 a-a-shen-eb (you will build)                      a-a-shen-eb-d-i               a-a-shen-eb-d-e
 a-a-shen-eb-s (s/he will build)                   a-a-shen-eb-d-a               a-a-shen-eb-d-e-s
 a-v-a-shen-eb-t (we will build)                   a-v-a-shen-eb-d-i-t           a-v-a-sheb-eb-d-e-t
 a-a-shen-eb-t (you(p) will build)                 a-a-shen-eb-d-i-t             a-a-shen-eb-d-e-t
 a-a-shen-eb-en (they will build)                  a-a-shen-eb-d-nen             a-a-shen-eb-d-nen
 In the aorist series, the thematic suffix -eb is lost:
 Aorist indicative: ³                              Optative: 
 a-v-a-shen-e (I built)                            a-v-a-shen-o
 a-a-shen-e (you built)                            a-a-shen-o
 a-a-shen-a (s/he built)                           a-a-shen-o-s
 a-v-a-shen-e-t (we built)                         a-v-a-shen-o-t
 a-a-shen-e-t (you(p) built)                       a-a-shen-o-t
 a-a-shen-es (they built)                          a-a-shen-o-n
 In the perfective series, both the preverb and the thematic suffix are used (m- set marker):
 Perfective: *                                     Pluperfect: **                Perfect subjunctive:   
 a-m-i-shen-eb-i-a (I have built)                  a-m-e-shen-eb-in-a            a-m-e-shen-eb-in-o-s
 a-g-i-shen-eb-i-a (you have built)                a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a            a-g-e-shen-eb-in-o-s
 a-u-shen-eb-i-a (s/he has built)                  a-e-shen-eb-in-a              a-e-shen-eb-in-o-s
 a-gv-i-shen-eb-i-a (we have built)                a-gv-e-shen-eb-in-a           a-gv-e-shen-eb-in-o-s
 a-g-i-shen-eb-i-a-t (you(p) have built)           a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t          a-g-e-shen-eb-in-o-t
 a-u-shen-eb-i-a-t (they have built)               a-e-shen-eb-in-a-t            a-e-shen-eb-in-o-t
    
¹ The imperfective screeve of class 1 verbs always takes the strong suffixal nominal marker -i
² The present subjunctive screeve of class 1 verbs always takes the week suffixal nominal marker -e
³ Class 1 verbs which take the weak suffixal nominal marker in the aorist screeve, take the -o- nominal  
marker in the optative screeve, and verbs which take the strong suffixal nominal marker in the aorist 
screeve, take the -a- nominal marker in the optative screeve.
* The perfective screeve of class 1 verbs always uses the -i- versioner.
** The pluperfect and the perfect subjunctive screeves of class 1 verbs always employ the -e versioner.

Class 2 (intransitive verbs)

• In class 2 verbs, the subject is in the nominative case for all series, using the v- set marker. Indirect objects (the benefactor or possesive) are indicated with the m- set marker.

• The pattern of preverbs and thematic suffixes are the same with class 1 verbs.

Here is a full conjugation of an intransitive verbs for the first person:

The verb root -bad-, infinite form dabadeba ("to be born")
Present sub-series:
 Present indicative: v-i-bad-eb-i
 Imperfect: v-i-bad-eb-od-i
 Present subjunctive: v-i-bad-eb-od-e
Future sub-series:
 Future: da-v-i-bad-eb-i
 Conditional: da-v-i-bad-eb-od-i
 Future subjunctive: da-v-i-bad-eb-od-e
Aorist series:
 Aorist: da-v-i-bad-e
 Optative: da-v-i-bad-o
Perfective series:
 Perfective: da-v-bad-eb-ul-v-a+r
 Pluperfect: da-v-bad-eb-ul-i-q'av-i
 Perfect subjunctive: da-v-bad-eb-ul-i-q'-o

Direct and indirect objects

• The verb -ts'er-, "to write," (transitive verb)

• • Simplest, we have: v-ts'er, ("I am writing") and ts'er-s, ("he/she is writing).

• • Adding the -u- versioner, we have v-u-ts'er, ("I am writing to him/her"). Another way to think of this is as follows. In the sentence "I am writing to him/her," him/her is the indirect object. Since, for the verb "write," indirect objects are indicated with the m- set, one has to use the prefix u- to indicate the third person indirect object.

• • In order to say "I am writing to you (singular)", we have to remember that you is the indirect object in this sentence. As stated in the verbal system, verbs which employ the v- set marker to indicate the subject, use the m- set marker to indicate the direct or the indirect object. Looking at the table of the m- set marker, we see that the prefixal nominal marker for the second person singular is g-. Therefore, "I am writing to you (singular) in Georgian is g-ts'er. If we want to say, "I am writing to you (plural)", then we have g-ts'er-t.

• • Note, however, that some ambiguities arise, as the verb encapsulates the indirect object. While g-ts'er-t means "I am writing to you (plural)," it could also mean "he/she is writing to you (plural). This is because the plural indirect object "you (plural)" requires both the prefixal nominal marker g- and the plural marker -t. The rule in Georgian is that, if a consonant plural marker (-t) is to be attached to the verb complex, another suffixal consonant nominal marker has to be dropped. For example, one cannot say g-ts'er-s-t ("he/she is writing to you (plural)") in Georgian. Therefore, the verb, in cases like this, fails to indicate whether the performer of the action is the first person or the third person. One, then, has to consider the role of the verb in the entire sentence to understand the exact meaning of the verb.

• The verb -nd-, "to want," belongs to indirect verb class (class 4).

• • Simplest, we have m-i-nd-a, "I want," and u-nd-a, "he/she wants."

• • When we want to construct, "he wants me," me is the direct object. Since the verb "want" requires the m- set marker for the subject, it requires the v- set for the object (this is exactly the opposite in verb "write"). To do this, we need to put both the letter v- at the beginning of the verb and we need to add the auxillary verb -var to the end (as auxillary verbs are needed in the present and perfective screeves of indirect verbs when the direct object is the first or the second person). Therefore, we have v-u-nd-i-var. The letter -u- right after the letter v- establishes the meaning that it is the third person who wants. To say, "you want me," we, then, have v-i-nd-i-var. Here, the -i- means that it is the second person who wants.

• • Note that "he/she wants me" and "they want me" are both the same in Georgian: v-u-nd-i-var. If one says, v-u-nd-i-var-t, this rather means "he/she wants us." This is because the plurality of the subject is not reflected in the verbs that use the m- set marker when the direct object is the either the first or the second person.

• • The Georgian language has perhaps one of the most complicated plural subject-verb and object-verb agreement system. Even native speakers do not seem to have a consensus on the reflection of plurality to the verb. One general rule is that in the verbs that employ the v- set nominal marker, the priority of the indicating the plurality of the subject is higher than that of the object. In the verbs that use the m- set nominal marker, this is reversed (just like everything else is reversed). That is why in the example of v-u-nd-i-var-t the plural marker -t at the end refers to the plurality of the object rather than the plurality of the subject.

Preverbs

Preverbs in Georgian can either add directionality to a verb, or can change the meaning of the verb entirely. It is also important to the use the appropriate versioner in each meaning.

• the verb root -ġ-:
  • Preverb a-: a-ġ-eb-a, to raise, lift up (preverb a- generally implies an upward motion). (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb amo-: amo-ġ-eb-a, to take out. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb ga-: ga-ġ-eb-a, to open. (Used with versioner -a)
  • Preverb gadmo-: gadmo-ġ-eb-a, to take down. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb gamo-: gamo-ġ-eb-a, to give forth. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb mi-: mi-ġ-eb-a, to receive. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb şemo-: şemo-ġ-eb-a, to introduce. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb ts'amo-: ts'amo-ġ-eb-a, to carry. (Used with versioner -u)

• the verb root -q'r--':
  • Preverb a-: a-q'r-a, put forth, throw upward. (Used with versioner -i)
  • Preverb ga-: ga-q'r-a, stick, put something through. (Used with versioner -u)
  • Preverb gada-: gada-q'r-a, throw down (preverb gada- generally implies a downward motion). (Used with no versioner, but when used in the meaning "throw down to someone", the -u versioner is used)
  • Preverb gadmo-: gadmo-q'r-a, cast something down. (Used with versioner -a)
  • Preverb da-: da-q'r-a, scatter, drop, let fall. (Used with no versioner)
  • Preferb mo-: mo-q'r-a, ask many questions to someone. (Used with versioner -a)
  • Preverb şe-: şe-q'r-a, gather together. (Used with no versioner)
  • Preverb ça-: ça-q'r-a, pour something (onto someone's head). (Used with versioner -a)