A1
Eat and drinkGeorgian grammar · A1
(ვ-) + stem + (-ს / -თ / -ენ)
Ordinary verbs, ordinary markers
"To eat" and "to drink" change just like "live" and "speak": ვ- for "I/we," -ს for "he/she," -თ for "we/you all," -ენ for "they."
What is a case?
English shows who does what mostly by word order: "the dog bites the man" isn't "the man bites the dog". Georgian shows it with the word's ending instead. These different endings of the same word are called cases. English has a trace of this in "he" vs. "him", "she" vs. "her".
What you eat or drink takes -ს
The thing you eat or drink gets the ending -ს. This form is called the dative case: ყავა → ყავას, კვერცხი → კვერცხს (the final -ი drops before -ს).
"To eat" — present tense
| I | ვჭამ |
|---|---|
| you | ჭამ |
| he / she | ჭამს |
| we | ვჭამთ |
| you all | ჭამთ |
| they | ჭამენ |
"To drink" — present tense
| I | ვსვამ |
|---|---|
| you | სვამ |
| he / she | სვამს |
| we | ვსვამთ |
| you all | სვამთ |
| they | სვამენ |
Examples
- დილით კვერცხს ვჭამ./dilit k'vertskhs vch'am./I eat an egg in the morning.in the morning · egg · I-eat
- მე ყავას ვსვამ./me q'avas vsvam./I drink coffee.I · coffee · drink
- ის ჩაის სვამს./is chais svams./He drinks tea.he · tea · drinks
- ბავშვები ვაშლს ჭამენ./bavshvebi vashls ch'amen./The kids are eating an apple.children · apple · eat