LingoflyYesterday: the past tense of simple verbs
To talk about yesterday one pattern is enough: a few dozen everyday verbs build the past the same way. For example: “გუშინ (gushin) პური (puri) ვიყიდე” (viqide) — Yesterday I bought bread. A rule from the Georgian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
To talk about yesterday one pattern is enough: a few dozen everyday verbs build the past the same way.
The prefix stays put and ვ- still means 'I'. At the end comes -ე for 'I' and 'you', -ა for 'he'. ვიყიდე (viqide) — I bought, იყიდე (iqide) — you bought, იყიდა — he bought. Same with ვნახე (vnakhe) / ნახე / ნახა (nakha) (nakha). Some verbs take -ო for 'he' instead: გავიგე (gavige) / გაიგე (gaige) / გაიგო.
The surprise: the one who acted takes the ending -მ. Not the thing, the doer: ნინომ ყავა (qava) დალია (Ninom qava dalia) — Nino drank the coffee. In the present that -მ is gone: ნინო (Nino) ყავას (qavas) სვამს (Nino qavas svams).
Advice for now: learn whole forms by heart — ვიყიდე (viqide), დავკარგე (davkarge), ვნახე (vnakhe), გავიგე (gavige). A dozen ready forms cover almost any story about yesterday.
Table
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Yesterday: how does it work in Georgian?
To talk about yesterday one pattern is enough: a few dozen everyday verbs build the past the same way.
What does it look like in a Georgian example sentence?
“გუშინ (gushin) პური (puri) ვიყიდე” (viqide) (gushin puri viqide) — Yesterday I bought bread. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.