Did a little Georgian studying and thought I might share it with you. You may want to refer back to my previous post on the subject.
Continuing with the verbs, the book I’m using makes the point that what each ‘screeve’ (similar to a tense) is marked by suffixes, and puts them in a little table with the top row showing the suffix for the first and second persons, and the second row showing the two suffixes for the third persons, singular and plural (remember that the first person is also marked by a -v-, and the first and second persons plural are marked with a -t.
For the future tense, the table shows Ø for the first two persons, -s for the third singular and -en for the third plural.
Let’s look at the first verb given, dats’ers. Dats’ers is made up of a Preverb (PVb) “Da”+ the stem “ts’er” plus the 3ps singular marker “s” = he/she/it will write it/them. We can now conjugate this verb in the future tense:
da-v-ts’er = I will write it/them. (Remember the -v- for first person!)
da- -ts’er = you will write it/them.
da- -ts’er-s = he will write it/them.
da-v-ts’er-t = we will write it/them. (Remember -t marks the plural in this person)
da- -ts’er-t = you all will write it/them.
da- -ts’er-en = they will write it/them.
That was easy, wasn’t it? Now lets try gadatargmnis, which means “he/she/it will translate it.” This is made up of a Pvb “gada” (which means ‘across’ ‘trans’), the stem “targmn,” and a Present/Future Stem Formant (P/FSF) “i.” One note, the -en of the 3pp becomes -an when there’s a P/FSF -i-. Let’s go!
gada-v-targmn-i =I will translate it/them.
gada- – targmn-i = you will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-s = he/she/it will translate it/them.
gada-v-targmn-i-t = we will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-t = you will translate it/them.
gada- -targmn-i-an = they will translate it/them.
How about a more murderous example: Mo-k’l-av-s — He will kill it/them. PVb “mo,” stem “k’l,” P/FSF “av.” That gives us, quite obviously(!):
mo-v-k’l-av = I will kill it/them.
mo- -k’l-av = you will kill it/them.
mo- -k’l-av-s = he/she/it will kill it/them.
mo-v-k’l-av-t = we will kill it/them.
mo- -k’l-av-t = you all will kill it/them.
mo- -k’l-av-en = they will kill it/them.
Remember that the person prefix ‘v’ comes after a PVb, but before any of the optional Preradical Vowels (PV) (also called ‘versioners’)? Let’s look at something a tad more constructive: aashenebs. The first “a” is the PVb, the second is the PV, the stem is “shen” and the P/FSF is “eb.” This means “He/she/it will build it/them.”
a-v-a-shen-eb = I will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb = you will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-s = he/she/it will build them.
a-v-a-shen-eb-t = we will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-t = you all will build it/them
a- -a-shen-eb-en = they will build it/then.
So, when it comes to verb paradigms, avasheneb da aasheneb!
We’ll look at the Present Screeve next (very soon) — remember that to build the present from the future, you simply remove the Pvb, but keep the same endings (nothing, -s, or -en/-an). This makes things a bit tough, as the Pvb is often arbitrary; if you encounter a verb for the first time in the present, you’ve got to find out what the proper Pvb is before you can really conjugate it. Note that the distinction between ‘present’ and ‘future’ is more aspectual. I don’t know if it’s just me but is seems the present is less vital or vivid than the future; what it lacks is not just an indication of futurity, but semantic as well – it lacks the directionality of the future screeve.
Don’t know about you, but I need some eye candy
Phew that was a lot to take in – I need the mental relaxation of Carlos Ponce now. Luckily for us he does seem to have a lot of trouble keeping his shirt on or buttoned, a definite plus in my book. Here he is demonstrating this, open to any breeze that may drift along…to investigate further just give a click. On the other side, he’s in his persona as Bruce Remington on the telenovela Dame Chocolate (“Give me Chocolate”). Mmmmm yummy, eh? 🙂 Click him for the sugar!
Speaking of eye candy, while we won’t have a Themey Thursday quiz this week, later on I’ll post a grab bag theme of male lusciousness from people who don’t have quite enough available for me to present as a true obsession. More like eye candy corn.
Accomodation by local government
Modern govenrment is all about being accessible to the diverse populations it serves. This must be the reason why a local council in the UK erected this bilingual sign at a community dog park. How very culturally sensitive. Click the thumbnail to see what I mean.