Less than three hundred Georgian verbs show an unusual way of marking subject and object in the present indicative by using the dative for the subject, much like in impersonal expressions: მას აქვს წიგნი - The book belongs to him // Das Buch gehört ihm. This kind of marking of the subject with the dative is done in all tenses in these verbs! Because of this unusual way of marking subject and object, these verbs are often called indirect or inverse verbs in Georgian grammars.
The verbs in Class III are conjugated based on their suffixes -ს, -ება, -ევა or -ია. Check out the conjugation pages.
Note that for the conjugation class III, the prefixes ს- and ჰ- function as markers of the subject and not as markers of the indirect object (as it would in conjugations I and II).
Check out the overview and examples of how to conjugate class III verbs on this page.
Page Content
- Marking Objects and Subjects with Class-III Verbs
- Examples for the Present Group using the verbs აქვს and მოსწონს
- Examples for Aorist and Optative
- Examples for Perfect and PluPerfect
Marking Objects and Subjects with Class-III Verbs
In Verbs of Class II the marking of subject and objects is quite straightforward and the same in all moods & tenses:
The use of indirect objects is not very common for class-II verbs and if, a paraphrase with a preposition with -ისთვის would be appropriate.
Here is a quick reference for how to set up the subject and objects:
Moods & Tenses | Subject | Verb | Direct Object | Indirect Object |
---|---|---|---|---|
Present Group* | Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
Aorist, Optative | Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
Perfect, PluPerfect | Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
*Present Indicative, Future Indicative, Imperfect Indicative, Conditional Mood and the Subjunctive Mood
Read more here: Abuladze & Ludden (2006): § 95, p. 232.
Examples for the Present Group using the verbs აქვს and მოსწონს:
Present Indicative
Subject | Verb | Direct Object | Indirect Object |
---|---|---|---|
Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
ბიჭს | აქვს | წერილი | დედისთვის |
the boy | has | a letter | for mother |
Present Indicative
Subject | Verb | Direct Object | Indirect Object |
---|---|---|---|
Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
მამას | მოსწონს | კატა | ბავშვისთვის |
the father | likes | the cat | for the child |
Present Subjunctive
Subject | Verb | Direct Object | Indirect Object |
---|---|---|---|
Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
ბიჭს | (რომ) ჰქონდეს | წერილი | დედისთვის |
the boy | (if) would have | the letter | დედისთვის |
Present Subjunctive
Subject | Verb | Direct Object | Indirect Object |
---|---|---|---|
Dative | - | Nominative | preposition + -ისთვის |
მამას | (რომ) მოსწონდეს | კატა | ბავშვისთვის |
the father | (if) would like | the cat | for the child |
Examples for Aorist and Optative:
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