Georgian language
Georgian is a redirect to this article. For other meanings, see Georgian (disambiguation).
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The Georgian language (proper name ქართული ენა kartuli ena, also Grusinian) is the official language in Georgia and is spoken there by about 4 million people (as of 2013).
Georgian belongs to the South Caucasian languages together with Mingrelian, Lazian and Swanian.
Georgian is written in the alphabetic script Mchedruli, which has 33 letters.
Phonology
Georgian has five vocalic and 28 consonantal phonemes, including ejectives. The consonants can form very large consonant clusters (e.g. the name of the Georgian city Mtskheta, or, as an extreme example, the Georgian tongue twister "you peel us" or "you ruin us": gvprzkvnit). Each phoneme is represented by a particular Georgian letter.
Every Georgian noun in the nominative case ends with a vowel.
| Endings of the nouns (nouns) in the nominative singular | ||||
| ა (a) | ე (e) | ი (i) | ო (o) | უ (u) |
| დედა (deda) nut | მზე (mse) Sun | ქალი (kali) woman | გოგო (gogo) maid | ძუ (dsu) female |
| მამა (mama) father | მთვარე (mtware) Moon | კაცი (kazi) man | ლოქო (loko) Catfish | ბრუ (bru) Vertigo |
| ბებია (bebia) grandmother | დღე (dghe) Tag | ძირი (dziri) root | წყარო (zkaro) spring creek | ყრუ (kru) Taub |
| ბაბუა (babua) grandfather | ღამე (ghame) night | ხვადი (chwadi) male | ოქრო (okro) Gold | ბრგუ (brgu) stutterer |
Emphasis
Unlike the language variants and dialects of Georgian, the stress of the literary language is very weak. In two- and three-syllable words, the stress is usually on the first syllable, and in four-syllable words - on the second syllable.
ცა (za), ხე (che), კი (ki), ხო (cho), რუ (ru), კუ (ku).
კაბა (kaba), თითი (titi), დიდი (didi), გოგო (gogo), ძუძუ (dsudsu).
გათავდა (gatawda), გადაიწვა (gadaizwa).
გაგვიწვიმდა (gagwizwimda), გამოიდარა (gamoidara), გაგვიმართლა (gagwimartla).
გაფუჭებული (gapuchebuli), გაკეთებული (gaketebuli).
მასწავლებელი (maßzawlebeli), მატარებელი (matarebeli), დამრიგებელი (damrigebeli).
ჭამა-სმა (chama-ßma), მიმოსვლა (mimoßwla), მისვლა-მოსვლა (mißwla-moßwla).
Sentence melody
Yes-no questions are - unlike in German - realized with a rising-falling intonation.
Types of sentences in Georgian
Declarative sentences
- Sample statement: Anna works as a librarian.
| Word order possibilities of the simple propositional sentence | ||
| Georgian | Duden transcription | Description/comment |
| ᲐᲜᲐ ᲛᲣᲨᲐᲝᲑᲡ ბიბლიოთეკარად. | (ana muschaobß bibliotekarad) | |
| ᲐᲜᲐ ბიბლიოთეკარად ᲛᲣᲨᲐᲝᲑᲡ. | (ana bibliotekarad muschaobß) | |
| ბიბლიოთეკარად ᲛᲣᲨᲐᲝᲑᲡ ᲐᲜᲐ. | (bibliotekarad musachobß ana) | With emphasis on what Anna does |
Interrogative sentences
interrogatives
- Sample question sentence: Does Anna live in Berlin?
| Word order possibilities of a Georgian interrogative sentence | ||
| Georgian | Duden transcription | Remark / Semant. Main accent |
| ᲐᲜᲐ ბერლინში ცხოვრობს? | (ana berlinschi zchowrobß?) | (Whether Anna lives in Berlin.) |
| ბერლინში ცხოვრობს ᲐᲜᲐ? | (berlinschi zchowrobß ana? ) | (Whether Anna lives in Berlin.) |
| ᲐᲜᲐ ცხოვრობს ბერლინში? | (ana cxowrobß berlinschi? ) | (Whether Anna! (<= !) lives in Berlin.) |
| ბერლინში ᲐᲜᲐ ცხოვრობს? | (berlinschi ana zchowrobß? ) | (Whether Anna (<= !) lives in Berlin.) |
| ცხოვრობს ბერლინში ᲐᲜᲐ? | (zxowrobß berlinschi ana? ) | (Whether Anna lives in Berlin (<= at all!).) |
| ცხოვრობს ᲐᲜᲐ ბერლინში? | (zchowrobß ana berlinschi? ) | (Whether Anna lives (<= at all) in Berlin.) |
interrogatives
- Sample question sentence: Where does Anna live?
| Word Composition Options | |
| Georgian | Duden transcription |
| ᲡᲐᲓ ცხოვრობს ᲐᲜᲐ? | ßad zchowrobß ana? |
| ᲐᲜᲐ ᲡᲐᲓ ცხოვრობს? | ana ßad zchowrobß? |
Imperative sentences
Command set pattern 1
| Singular and plural | |||
| Georgian | Duden transcription | German meaning | Comment |
| დაჯექი ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dadsheki meore mchareß! ) | Sit on the other side! | Facing a person |
| დაჯექით ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dadshekit meore mchareß! ) | Sit on the other side! | Facing more than one person |
Command set pattern 2
| Singular and plural forms of politeness | |||
| Georgian | Duden transcription | German meaning | Comment |
| დაბრძანდი ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dabrdsandi meore mchareß! ) | Sit on the other side! | Facing a person |
| დაბრძანდით ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dabrdsandit meore mchareß! ) | Sit on the other side! | Facing more than one person |
| Let's sit on the other side | |||
| Georgian | Duden transcription | German meaning | Comment |
| დავჯდეთ ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dawdshdet meore mchareß! ) | Let's sit on the other side! | not normative, but widely used |
| დავსხდეთ ᲛᲔᲝᲠᲔ მხარეს! | (dawßchdet meore mchareß! ) | Sit on the other side! | used by norm-conscious speakers |
Grammar
→ Main article: Georgian grammar
Georgian language is characterized by both agglutination and root inflection. A distinctive feature is the absence of the grammatical gender (genus), and the noun knows neither a definite nor indefinite article.
Instead of the prepositions common in German, for example, Georgian uses postpositions, which can either stand alone or be added to the noun. A German example of a postposition is "along the river". Georgian has 7 cases (nominative, dative, genitive, instrumental, adverbial (essive and translative), vocative and ergative). The ergative occurs as a subject case with certain verb forms, namely with the aorist and optative of transitive verbs. Georgian is thus a split ergative language. As in most inflectional languages, word order is relatively free. The conjugated forms of the verb mark a reference to both the subject and the direct or indirect object of the sentence. Thus, not only are there separate forms for "I see" (vxedav), "you see" (xedav) etc., but also for "I see you" (gxedav), "I see you" (gxedavt), "you see me" (mxedav), "you see us" (gvxedav), "you see him" ((h) Xedav) etc.
While the Indo-European languages use different tenses to represent the present, past, future and possible, Georgian uses eleven so-called mzkriwi (=> rows. English spelling in grammar books = mtskrivi). They also assign a certain verb form to the time of the event, but agglutination not only changes the verb, but also the subject and object of the sentence change the case in which they stand. For example, in the forms of the present and future groups the subject is usually in the nominative case, in the forms of the aorist group partly in the nominative and partly in the ergative case (depending on the transitivity of the verb), and in the forms of the perfect group in the dative case; similarly the case of the object changes. The high number of irregularly inflected (especially suppletive) verbs is also striking. For example, the verb for "tell", which has several stems: eubneba (present tense) "he tells him", 'et'q'vis (future tense) "he will tell him", utxra (aorist) "he told him/has told him", utkvams (perfect tense) "he (obviously) told him".
Questions and Answers
Q: What is Georgian?
A: Georgian, also known as khartuli ena, is the official language of Georgia.
Q: Where is Georgia located?
A: Georgia is a country in the Caucasus.
Q: How many people in Georgia speak Georgian?
A: About 3.9 million people in Georgia, or 83% of the population, speak Georgian as their primary language.
Q: Where else is Georgian spoken?
A: Georgian is also spoken by another 500,000 people abroad, mainly in Turkey, Iran, Russia, the United States, and Europe.
Q: Who speaks Georgian?
A: Georgian is the literary language for all ethnographic groups of Georgian people, especially those who speak other South Caucasian languages like Svans, Megrelians, and the Laz.
Q: What is Gruzinic?
A: Gruzinic, also known as Kivruli, is sometimes considered a separate Jewish language and is spoken by an additional 20,000 people in Georgia and 65,000 people elsewhere, primarily in Israel.
Q: How many people speak Gruzinic?
A: Gruzinic is spoken by an additional 20,000 people in Georgia and 65,000 people elsewhere, primarily in Israel.
