The indirect object in Georgian is most often marked in dative, but it can also be expressed by paraphrases with -ისთვის: e.g. დედისთვის - for mother, instead of dative დედას.
First and Second Person Indirect Objects
Indirect objects in the first and second person are marked by მ-, გ-, გვ- and გ--თ, just like it would be for a direct object: ის მწერს წერილს - he writes me a letter.
ს/ჰ - Markers
Indirect objects in third person like in "She is writing a letter to her father." can be marked in Georgian verbs by the prefixes ჰ- or ს-, e.g. ის ჰფხანს მას მკლავს - she is scratching his arm or ის სწერს მას წერილს - she is writting a letter to her father. These markers are used only before consonants.
ს- is used before the consonants დ, თ, ტ, ძ, ც, წ, ჯ, ჩ and ჭ.
ჰ- must be used before გ, კ, ქ, პ and ყ.
ჰ- can be used before ბ, ფ, ზ, ს, ჟ, შ, ღ, ხ, ლ, რ, მ, ნ, ვ.
Tschenkeli (1958) 31. Lektion, p. 343ff (object markers, objektive Personalzeichen), p. 370-381 markers of the indirect object, p. 372 comparison of direct and indirect object markers.
Note that the prefixes ჰ- and ს- can sometimes (but rarely in contemporary Georgian) be found as a marker of the subject in second person, შენ სწერ - you are writing or თქვენ ჰკლავთ - you are killing. See Tschenkeli (1958, p. 67).
უ, გ, მ - Markers
The უ at the beginning of a Georgian verb can have several meanings:
- უ-, მი-, გი-, გვი- as marker of the objective verb version: an action is done for someone, e.g. ვუწერ მას წერილს - I am writing the letter for him, Tschenkeli (1958, p. 390).
- Note that in Class-I verbs in the Perfect Indicative mood, these markers loose their function of marking the objective version; they only mark some kind of indirect relation. See details and references on the page Perfect Indicative: მე ჯერ არ მიმილოცავს დაბადების დღე დედისთვის - I have not yet congratulated mother on her birthday // ich habe Mutter noch nicht zum Geburtstag gratuliert.
- უ as marker of an indirect object, e.g. ცოტას ვუმატებ პოსტს - I am adding a littlebit to the post (Tshenkeli, p. 391)
- გ- can mark the second person as an indirect object: დაგირეკავ - I will call you! მალე მოგწერ! I will write you soon!
- მ- can mark the first person as the indirect object: დამირეკე! Call me! მომწერე! Write me!
Examples: დაუწერს, დაუმატებს, უღიმის
ე - Marker
The ე marker in a Georgian verb (always a verb of Class-II conjugation) expresses a certain relation to an indirect object. It can be understood as a passive version of expressing the indirect object with the ს/ჰ markers in an active verb (see above).
წერილი ეწერება ცოლს მას მიერ - the letter is written for the wife by him
For objects in the third person, the object marker is just ე, for objects in the first and second person, the markers მ- and გ- are used, just as described in the first paragraph above: არ ვიცი, წერილი მეწერება თუ გეწერება - I don't know, whether the letter is written for me or for you. Read more about this in Tshenkeli (1957, p. 402ff.)
Examples: ეწერება, ეშლება, ემალება