Verbs of Conjugation Class III

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

  1. 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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