Prepositions

In English and German we use prepositions to express relations between objects, most often relations in space and time, but also concerning more abstract relations (comparison, ranks, causes ...). Examples of spatial prepositions are behind the house or neben der Tür. In Georgian such relations are usually expressed either by certain suffixes attached to a word, e.g. -ზე as in მაგიდაზე - on the table // auf dem Tisch; or by separate words situated behind the object, e.g. სიტყვის გარდა - without word // ohne Wort.

💡
Linguists distinguish between prepositions which are situated in front of the object and postpositions which are situated behind the object (as they are in Georgian). If they are situated partly in front and partly behind the object, they are called circumpositions and all together they are called adpositions or prepositions in a broader sense. Here we do not need to care about these technicalities - We only want to learn about how to express the relations between objects in Georgian! Let's just call them prepositions as we would in English and German. The Georgian word თანდებული just means "lying with it", "lying at it".

In some cases the Georgian prepositions are merely attached to the object word in others it is a separate word behind the object word. Sometimes this requires modification of the object according to the cases we know in Georgian nouns (see details here). Therefore the Georgian prepositions are listed here according to the case of the modified object/noun:

Prepositions with the Nominative

-ვით or -სავით - like // wie: მგელისავით (მგელივით) - like a wolf // wie ein Wolf. Alternatively, this can be expressed using როგორც ... as in როგორც მგელი - like a wolf.

თითო~ - each // je, einzelne: ვაშლები თითოეულად (= თითო-თითოდ) ღირს ერთი ლარი - the apples cost one Lari each // die Äpfel kosten je einen Lari

Prepositions with the Genitive

Most prepositions in Georgian are used with the object in genitive case, e.g. გვერდით - next to // neben: სახლის გვერდით - next to the house // neben dem Haus or გეგმის თანახმად (= გეგმის მიხედვით) - according to the plan // dem Plan gemäß, nach Plan.

spatial: აქეთ, გადა-, -გან, განივ, გარეთ, გასწვრივ, გვერდით, ზევით, ზემოთ, იქით, -კენ, მიმართ, პირდაპირ, უკან, ქვევით, ქვემოთ, ქვეშ, წინ