Moods and Tenses

The Georgian verbs exist in the following moods (modalities): indicative, subjunctive, conditional, optative and imperative. The indicative mood has a number of tenses, whereas the other moods have only one or two tenses, mostly present and/or future.

Indicative Mood

The most important mood in Georgian is the indicative mood (თხრობითი კილო), describing mere actions in the different tenses. They are the most important to learn for the novice student of the Georgian language – maybe with the exception of the perfect and pluperfect tenses, which do not need to be learned right away. Learning the different tenses in the indicative mood gives the learner direct access to the imperative mood, using forms of the indicative (aorist and present tense).

• The present tense (აწმყო) consists of the verb root. It can usually be translated using the English present progressive or the German Präsens: მე ვწერ წერილს - I am writing a letter // Ich schreibe einen Brief. Sometimes you can find a preverb attached to the root to indicate a more specific meaning of the verb in the present, e.g. მე ჩავწერ სიტყვებს წიგნაკში - I am writing words into the notebook. This has to be recognized from the context and can be confused with the use of the preverb to mark the future tense.

• The future tense (მყობადი, მომავალი) is derived from the present tense by adding a preverb to the root. The resulting expression can then be translated using the English going to or the German Futur I: მე დავწერ წერილს - I am going to write a letter // Ich werde einen Brief schreiben.

• The imperfect tense (უწყვეტელი) is usually derived from the present tense by adding a -დ-ა (third singular) or -დ-ი (first/second singular). It can be translated into English using the past progressive or into German using the Imperfekt: მე ვწერდი წერილს - I was writing a letter // Ich schrieb einen Brief. Adding the preverb to the უწყვეტილი puts an emphasis on the action being more habitual and repeatedly done, like the English used to clauses or would clauses: მე დავწერდი წერილს - I used to write letters*; or it can emphasize a more precise meaning of the verb in imperfect, just as when using the present indicative with the preverb. Thirdly, the imperfect + preverb is identical with the conditional mood, indicating the action done under a condition (see below). * This is called the "Permansiv" in the grammar by Babunashvili et al. (1974). There is a parallel form of the imperfect, which is constructed by omitting the preverb from the aorist, but this is rare: მე ვწერე წერილი - I was writing a letter.

• The aorist (წყვეტილი, აორისტი) is constructed by adding the preverb to the root and adding a different ending. Also, the subject is marked by the ergative case (მან, მათ). It can be translated into English using the simple past or into German using the Perfekt: მე დავწერე წერილი - I wrote a letter // Ich habe einen Brief geschrieben. მან დაწერა წერილი - He wrote a letter // Er hat einen Brief geschrieben. Be aware of the negated aorist. It is t be understood not just in its negated meaning but rather implies that the subject had never really intended doing the deed: მე არ დავწერე წერილი - (Of course) I did not write the letter // Ich habe den Brief (natürlich) nicht geschrieben.

• The perfect tense (I თურმეობითი, პერფექტი) looks quite different from the other tenses. It is quite commonly used in its negated form, expressing something, which has not been done despite having been planned. It can then be translated just as the aorist: წერილი არ დამიწერია - (Sadly,) I did not write the letter // Ich habe den Brief (leider) nicht geschrieben. It can also be translated using the English present perfect: I have not written the letter.

• The pluperfect tense (II თურმეობითი) is used in Georgian to mark an action that happened before another event in the past. It can be translated using the past perfect in English or the Plusquamperfekt in German: მე დამეწერა წერილი - I had written the letter // ich hatte den Brief geschrieben.

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood (იმპერატივი/ბრძანებითი კილო) is morphologically identical to the aorist indicative: დაწერე წერილი! - Write the letter! // Schreibe den Brief! However, be advised that expressing the negative imperative (do not ...!) is done using ნუ and the present indicative of the verb: ნუ წერ წერილს! - Do not write the letter! // Schreibe den Brief nicht!
The imperative mood is actually quite easy to learn once you got the hang of the tenses in the indicative mood because it uses the aorist and the present tense of the indicative mood! You only need to learn how to use them to express the imperative, the forms you already know. That's why I recoommend learning the imperative mood right after the indicative mood and before the optative mood.
For a less order-like assignment or for expressing an assignment in first person or third person, an expression identical to the optative can be used: მან უნდა დაწეროს წერილი - He should write the letter // Er soll den Brief schreiben. (ჩვენ უნდა) წავიდეთ! - We should go! // Wir sollten gehen! As with aorist and optative proper, the subject is marked by the ergative case.

Optative Mood

The optative mood (II კავშირებითი, ოპტატივი) is used to express whishes or duties to be fulfilled. It is constructed similar to the aorist indicative but with a different ending: მე მინდა დავწერო წერილი - I want to write a letter // Ich möchte/will einen Brief schreiben. Likewise: მე უნდა დავწერო წერილი - I have to write a letter // Ich muss einen Brief schreiben. Similar to the aorist indicative, the ergative is used to mark the subject in the third person: მან უნდა დაწეროს წერილი. მათ უნდათ დაწერონ წერილი.
I recommend starting to learn the optative forms after having learned the basics of the tenses in the indicative and imperative moods, giving you the ability to express wishes (მინდა, გინდა, უნდა) and obligations (უნდა).
Hewitt calls the optative mood the "Aorist subjunctive"

Subjunctive and Conditional Moods

The subjunctive and conditional moods (კავშირებითი და ხოლმეობითი კილო) are often used together in the Georgian language when expressing conditional clauses similar to type II conditional clauses in English or irreale Bedingungssätze der Gegenwart in German. They do not need to be learned right away by novice learners. I recommend diving into these only after being firm in the indicative, imperative and optative moods.

• The future subjunctive (მყობადის კავშირებითი, I კავშირებითი მყობადი) is constructed using რომ and a derivative of the present subjunctive, adding the preverb and the ending -დ-ე (first/second singular) or -დ-ეს (third singular) and represents the condition, which must be fulfilled, in order for the result to take effect. It can be translated into English using if and simple past (or would and the present participle) or into German using Konjunktiv I oder II: მე რომ დავწერდე ... - If I wrote the letter // if I started writing the letter // Wenn ich den Brief dann schreiben würde.

• The present subjunctive (აწმყოს კავშირებითი, I კავშირებითი აწმყო) can be used similarly but implies that the activity relates to the present: შენ რომ წერდე ... - if you wrote the letter right now // if you were writing the letter (now) // if you would be writing the letter (now) // würdest du den Brief jetzt schreiben.

• The conditional mood (ხოლმეობითი კილო, I ხოლმეობითი) is constructed by adding the preverb to the imperfect indicative and can be translated into Englisch using would and the present tense or into German using another Konjunktiv: ... მერე დავწერდი წერილს - ... then I would write the letter // dann würde ich den Brief schreiben. Example: მე რომ წავიდოდე სახლში [subjunctive], მერე ვჭამდი ვაშლს [conditional] - If I went home, I would eat an apple (there) // Wenn ich nach Hause gehen würde, dann würde ich (dort) einen Apfel essen. Note that imperfect + preverb can also be used to modify the imperfect indicative which then has nothing to do with the conditional mood per se (see above).

• The perfect subjunctive (III კავშირებითი) is rarely used in modern Georgian anymore, most often in praises and formal wishes. Its use in conjunctions and nominal expressions together with another verb is more and more substituted by the plusquamperfect indicative. Abuladze & Ludden (2006): § 111, p. 238. Hewitt (2005): Chapter 20. Tschenkeli (1958): 40. Lektion. §§ 4-5, p. 521.

Alternative Systems

Most text books on the Georgian language do not distinguish strictly between the moods and the tenses, prioritizing instead similarities in morphology and case marking when introducing and grouping verb forms, e.g. the aorist indicative and the optative together in "Series II" in Hewitt (2005,) chapter 4 or "2. Zeitgruppe" in Tschenkeli (1958). Grouping by morphology and case marking definitively has the didactic advantage of learning similar forms together, but doing so sacrifices clarity in meaning (moods) and tenses, which creates other problems for the learner further down the road.

Here is an example of this type of classification of the Georgian verb tenses based on three time series rather than strictly distinguishing between the moods (სამი მწკრივი, სერია) with the example verb წერს:

First Time Series (I სერია)

• Present Group (აწმყოს წრე)

  • Present Indicative (აწმყო): მე ვწერ
  • Imperfect Indicative (უწყვეტელი): მე ვწერდი
  • Present Subjunctive (აწმყოს I კავშირებითი): მე ვწერდე

• Future Group (მყოფადის წრე)

  • Future Indicative (მყოფადი): მე დავწერ
  • Conditional Mood (ხოლმეობითი): მე დავწერდი
  • Future Subjunctive (მყოფადის I კავშირებითი): მე დავწერდე

Second Time Series (II სერია)

• Aorist Indicative (წყვეტილი): მე ვწერე, in form identical with the Indicative Mood (ბრძანებითი): დაწერე!
• Optative Mood (II კავშირებითი): მემინდა დავწერო

Third Time Series (III სერია)

• Perfect Indicative (I თურმეობითი): მე დამიწერია
• Pluperfect Indicative (II თურმეობითი): მე დამეწერა
• Perfect Subjunctive (III კავშირებითი): მე დამეწეროს

Wikipedia (2021): გერმანული ენის მორფოლოგია. https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/გერმანული_ენის_მორფოლოგია (May, 2021).