Lingoflyგადამაღებინა, დავალევინე: made, asked and let someone do it
In hospital you hardly do a thing yourself. Blood is taken from you, a picture is made of you, medicine is handed to you. English gets by with 'I had an X-ray done'. Georgian has a verb form of its own. For example: “ექიმმა (ekimma) ხელის (khelis) რენტგენი (rentgeni) გადამაღებინა” — The doctor had an X-ray taken of my hand. A rule from the Georgian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
In hospital you hardly do a thing yourself. Blood is taken from you, a picture is made of you, medicine is handed to you. English gets by with 'I had an X-ray done'. Georgian has a verb form of its own.
The main pattern: the prefix ა-, and -ინ- slipped in before the ending. აკეთებს (does) → აკეთებინებს (makes someone do), წერს (writes) → აწერინებს. A prefix the verb already has stays put: გადაიღებს → გადააღებინებს. Two everyday verbs keep an older, shorter pattern with no -ინ- at all: სვამს (svams) → ასმევს (makes someone drink), ჭამს → აჭმევს (feeds). Easier to just learn them as they are.
Whoever was made to do it takes -ს. ბავშვს (bavshvs) წამალი (tsamali) დავალევინე (bavshvs tsamali davalevine) — I got the child to drink the medicine. English needs three words for this form — 'made', 'asked', 'let' — while Georgian only reports that the action didn't start with the doer. Pressure or a request is spelled out: ძალით (by force), თხოვნით (by asking).
Table
| Ordinary verb | Made-to-do form | In English | Who takes -ს |
|---|---|---|---|
| აკეთებს | აკეთებინებს | makes someone do | the doer |
| წერს | აწერინებს | has someone write | the doer |
| სვამს | ასმევს | makes someone drink | the doer |
| ჭამს | აჭმევს | feeds | the doer |
| გადაიღებს | გადააღებინებს | has a picture taken | the doer |
| ამოიღებს | ამოაღებინებს | takes someone to have it pulled | the doer |
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
made, asked and let someone do it: how does it work in Georgian?
In hospital you hardly do a thing yourself. Blood is taken from you, a picture is made of you, medicine is handed to you. English gets by with 'I had an X-ray done'. Georgian has a verb form of its own.
What does it look like in a Georgian example sentence?
“ექიმმა (ekimma) ხელის (khelis) რენტგენი (rentgeni) გადამაღებინა” (ekimma khelis rentgeni gadamaghebina) — The doctor had an X-ray taken of my hand. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.