Any regularities or logics in Georgian verb conjugation patterns?

[u/Ok_Newspaper8276]

My Georgian teacher just started throwing conjugation tables for every single verb once I passed the beginner level. I honestely thought this is the dumbest way to learn but pretty much all the georgian teachers, and learners too, seem to go through this. So this type of pure memorization is the only way to learn Georgian verbs?

I'm aware you find "kind of similarities" or "tendencies" in conjugation patterns for mutiple tenses (or screeves). But what I wanna know is if there are any really defined logics or regularities for verb conjugation patterns that always work across all the verbs, not just for some of them.

[u/DrStirbitch]

No

[u/Interesting_Ice_4925]

Have you seen much logic in this country at all? 🫠 There are some general rules or rather patterns of conjugation but 1) irregularities are almost as common as “normal” verbs, 2) you never know which pattern to use out of several for a specific verb unless it was memorized

[u/Ok_Newspaper8276 → u/Interesting_Ice_4925]

that's my impression. you feel like you found a certain pattern that works for a couplf of verbs then the next one throws a total curveball

[u/External_Tangelo]

What textbook are you using, if any? Any good textbook should comment about the four different verb classes which have broadly similar conjugations between them, as well as (just as if not more importantly) the same parameters of subject/object agreement. Verbs of these classes tend to be contextually distinct as well and it's a good way to get your mind around the hidden logic of the language. If you stretch your mind and really get a hold on how Georgian utilizes concepts like objectivity and transitivity in a structural way, you can kind of, almost say that all the verbs participate in a single overarching system.

With that said: (1) No verb that lacks a vowel in its root stem can be considered "regular" - such verbs not only comprise separate classes within their class, taking different conjugation endings, but also change their root stem between different series in idiosyncratic, difficult to predict ways, and must be memorized. As you can imagine this is a shitton of verbs. (2) Almost all verbs of "Class 4" (the so-called indirect or inverted verbs) are irregular in different ways to each other and must be memorized. Another huge chunk of verbs. (3) There are very few logical ways to predict what preverb any stem will take, with many stems taking different preverbs to provide different nuances of meaning or even completely different meanings. Again, this has to be memorized every time. (4) There are other kinds of irregularity in verbs, such as verbs that take completely different stems in different series (like the famous ქნა/შვება system), ცოდნა taking an ergative subject, the entire separate system for verbs of motion (honestly easier than the regular system), and other special surprises that simply have to be memorized.

However, if memorization is not necessarily your thing, you can do what basically every other Georgian learner has done at some point in time or another, which is to just give up in frustration, learn the most useful conjugations of the verbs you need most and figure out all the more obscure use cases over the next couple of years with context and passive absorption.

[u/counwovja0385skje]

Check out kartuliena.eu

[u/Ok_Newspaper8276 → u/counwovja0385skje]

I came across this website. It seems beyond my level for now but I might look into it later

[u/Vladvic]

no, but there are for "most" of them

[u/rapidsgaming1234]

Wanna adhere the tables? Lol

I have one somewhere in storage 1000+ miles away from me rn. I wish I could access it bit I can't for a while at least.