Yesterday: the past tense of simple verbs
The past tense (Georgian grammar calls it the aorist) of a few dozen everyday verbs assembles by a tidy pattern, and the pattern is enough to talk about your yesterday. For example: “გუშინ პური ვიყიდე” — Yesterday I bought bread. A rule from the Georgian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The past tense (Georgian grammar calls it the aorist) of a few dozen everyday verbs assembles by a tidy pattern, and the pattern is enough to talk about your yesterday.
The pattern: the prefix stays where it was, ვ- still means 'I', and the ending is -ე for 'I' and 'you' and -ა for 'he, she'. ვიყიდე (viqide) — I bought, იყიდე (iqide) — you bought, იყიდა — he bought. The same for დავწერე (davtsere) / დაწერე (datsere) / დაწერა (datsera), ვნახე (vnakhe) / ნახე / ნახა (nakha). You have already met დავიკარგე (davikarge) and გავიგე (gavige) — exactly the same shape.
And here comes the great surprise of the Georgian past: the doer of the action takes the ending -მ. Not the thing acted upon — the doer: ნინომ ყავა დალია (Ninom qava dalia) — Nino drank the coffee. This is the famous ergative, and it switches on only in the past: in the present it is ნინო ყავას სვამს (Nino qavas svams), with no -მ anywhere.
Honest advice for the early months: learn the ready-made forms whole — ვიყიდე, დავკარგე (davkarge), ვნახე, გავიგე. The Georgian verb is far too rich to assemble piece by piece at level A2, and a dozen memorized forms cover almost any everyday story.
Table
| I | you | he, she |
|---|---|---|
| ვიყიდე — bought | იყიდე | იყიდა |
| ვნახე — saw | ნახე | ნახა |
| დავწერე — wrote | დაწერე | დაწერა |
| გავიგე — understood | გაიგე | გაიგო |
By example
- გუშინ პური ვიყიდეgushin puri viqideYesterday I bought bread
- პასპორტი დავკარგეpasporti davkargeI lost my passport
- ნინომ ყავა დალიაNinom qava daliaNino drank the coffee
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?
The past tense (Georgian grammar calls it the aorist) of a few dozen everyday verbs assembles by a tidy pattern, and the pattern is enough to talk about your yesterday.
What does it look like in an example sentence Georgian?
“გუშინ პური ვიყიდე” (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.