Language/Georgian/Grammar/The-Ergative-Case

The Ergative Case in Georgian

The ergative case is a specific case for the subject of a transitive verb in the past tense (aorist).

Its marker is suffix “-მა”.

• the man painted (it) კაც-მა დახატა (ის)
• the woman saw (it) ქალ-მა ნახა (ის)

Words ending on vowels have only the suffix “-მ” for the ergative case (“ა” from the case marker is missing).

• Compare: მეგობარ-მა, კაც-მა, კაცებ-მა and დედა-მ, ხე-მ.

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: The Conjugation System, Future Tense, Plural & Word Order.

Sources

http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/3071/1/Basic-Georgian%202%20bolo%20versia.pdf

Other Lessons

• Adverbs
• The verb “to have”
• Adverbs of Time
• The postposition of the Adverbial
• Derivation
• Third person pronouns
• The postposition of the Nominative
• Word Order
• Expression “traveling by...”