L5: Adjectives (2)

Let's continue on the adjectives wooooooo. This lesson is for beginners and intermediates, we will be discussing placement of adjectives in Georgian and comparative form, while keeping it all as simple as possible. Let's get started. Adjectives in English and Georgian are alike by usage. Adjectives can describe a noun or a pronoun, coming before it or it can go after the verb 'to be': წითელი წიგნი - Red book ეს წიგნი წითელია - This book is red (Remember from last lesson, წითელია - წითელი არის) That out of the way, let's get started with adjectives: Georgian has many types of adjectives, just like English: size-volume, amount, weight, form, color and etc. but the questions that they answer are different. There are 4 adjective questions in Georgian: 1) როგორი? (What kind?) - წითელი, მძიმე, მჩატე... 2) რომელი? (Which?) - მარჯვენა, უფროსი, შინაური, დიდი... 3) სადაური? (From where?) - These were introduced to you, they are Ethnicity Adjectives 4) როდინდელი? (Of what time?) - გუშინდელი (yesterday's), შარშანდელი (last year's), სამომავლი (future's/for future)... Let's look at some examples, I'll color-code the necessary words: 1) - ეგ კომპიუტერი როგორია? - What kind is that computer? - ეს კომპიუტერი ძალიან მძიმეა - This computer is very heavy 2) - მაიმუნი რომელ სპილოზეა? - On which elephant is the monkey on - დიდ სპილოზე. - On the big elephant. [This sentence is a bit complicated, you'll get it in later lessons] 4) - ეს რძე როდინდელია? - Of what time is this milk? - გუშინდელი, ქალბატონო. - Yesterday's, Ma'am.

3rd one I skipped, since you can check examples on it in the previous lesson about ethnicity adjectives. Now to get to the big part. Adjectives can either be ვითარებითი or მიმართებითი, direct translation for these words in English don't exist so let me explain: ვითარებითი is a kind of an adjective not derived from anything else, while მიმართებითი being the opposite, created from some other part of speech. მიმართებითი ზედსართავი სახელი can be created by 3 means: suffixation, prefix-suffixation (I am not taking into the account prefixation, because mostly they are participles, deriving from verbs) or reduplication. In this lesson, I will show you different ways a part of speech is made into an adjective: 1) ყოლა-ქონების სახელები - Possessive Adjectives: a. -იან-ი is probably one of the most common suffixes, that express possession. It expresses direct or indirect possession, most commonly you can translate it as 'with', so let's see the examples with different part of speech: Nouns: მზე - მზ-იან-ი (with sun, sunny); ჭკუა - ჭკვ-იან-ი <- ჭკუ-იან-ი (with mind, smart) Adjectives: წითელ-ი - წითლ-იან-ი (redful, with red things) Also Foreign Nouns: ტუბერკულოზ-ი - ტუბერკულოზ-იან-ი (with tuberculosis)

b. -ოვან-ი is a pretty nice and useful suffix. A lot of times this suffix can have synonyms created from -იან-ი. It roughly translates to English 'with' or 'consisting of', sometimes even 'full of'; maybe best to translate it as suffix ;-ius, -ious. Let's look at examples: ყინულ-ი - ყინულ-ოვან-ი (covered with ice, glacious); ყინულ-იან-ი სახელ-ი (here: good name, good reputation, glory) - სახელ-ოვან-ი (glorious); სახელ-იან-ი კლდე - კლდ-ოვან-ი (with lots of cliffs, cliffy); კლდ-იან-ი

c. -იერ-ი/-იელ-ი is actually quite a suffix. It undergoes dissimilation (which you can check out in sound change lesson, see when it happens) and also some consonant additions. Some words with this suffix didn't even retain their original unsuffixed forms. Translates to 'having' or 'with' mostly. Let's look at examples: ნიჭ-ი - ნიჭ-იერ-ი (clever, with lot's of natural smarts) ძალა - ძლ-იერ-ი (strong, with lot's of strength) წამ-ი - წამ-იერ-ი (of one second, something lasting for a second, for a really small time) ხან-ი - ხნ-იერ-ი (with old age, possibly lot; elderly) ნოყ-? - ნოყ-იერ-ი (for an earth, dirt: with good minerals giving it good quality harvest)

Some adjectives from here are derived from verbs: შვენის - მ-შვენ-იერ-ი (with beautiful looks, pretty, beautiful) მ prefix insertion.

Some insert consonants before the suffix: გემო - გემ-რ-იელ-ი (with taste, having taste; tasty) ბედ-ი - ბედ-ნ-იერ-ი (with lot's of luck -> happy)

d. -ა is also a pretty common suffix. Though this also generally creates nouns, it's worth discussing here, since they can act as adjectives, too. Most common use of the suffix is combining phrases into a compound and creating meaning of 'having' or 'possession'. Most of these should have parallel forms with -იან-ი. Let's look at some examples: ცალ-ი თვალ-ი - ცალ-თვალ-ა (with half/one eye)

გრძელ-ი ბეწვ-ი - გრძელ-ბეწვ-ა (with long fur); გრძელ-ბეწვ-იან-ი რვა ფეხ-ი - რვა-ფეხ-ა (with eight legs, octopus)

Exists single root adjectives as well:

ულვაშ-ი - ულვაშ-ა (with mustache)

e. -(ა)დ-ი is also one of those kinda technical and also common suffixes. It comes from, as some of you may have noticed, the adverbial case by adding the nominative case suffix. It mainly now makes technical terms with the meaning of 'having/with the tendency to (undergo)...' or some just showing simple, kind of meaning-changing possession. Let's look at some examples: გულ-ი - გულ-ად-ი (with [brave] heart) პურ-ი - პურ-ად-ი (breadful, though meaning shifted to someone who doesn't hold back on guests, shares food etc.); სტუმართმოყვარე

ტან-ი - ტან-ად-ი (bodyful, meaning shifted to having a great body, big, mostly muscular)

Now to look at technical adjectives, mostly deriving from verbal nouns: ა-ალ-ებ-ა - ა-ალ-ებ-ა-დ-ი (having tendency to go up in flames, flammable)

კვეცა - კვეცა-დ-ი (having tendency to undergo კვეცა Lesson 0)

დაშლა - დაშლა-დ-ი (having tendency to break) and so on...

2) უყოლობა-უქონლობის სახელები - Privative Adjectives:

a. უ-R-ო is probably the most common way to express that the doesn't have R(s). It expresses direct nonexistence. Let's see some examples: გულ-ი - უ-გულ-ო (without heart, heartless) ჭკუა - უ-ჭკუ-ო (without smartness, sense of awareness; close to idiot, dumb) -ებრ-* - უ-ებრ-ო (without having someone equal to someone else; magnificent) *This word is only seen in the now postposition -ებრ

სახლ-კარ-ი - უ-სახლკარ-ო (without house and door/garden) -შვენ-* - უ-შნ-ო (Without beauty; ugly)

*Same root as მშვენიერი. Probably: უშნო <- უშვნო <- უშვენო <~ უშუენო თანა-სწორ-ი - უ-თანა-სწორ-ო (unequal) b. უ-ურ(ულ)-ი is another privative confix. Though it is not as common as the first one, it's still necessary to know. It expresses nonexistence of a characteristic. Let's look at examples:

გემო - უ-გემ-ურ-ი (without any characteristic of [good] taste, untasty) ბედ-ი - უ-ბედ-ურ-ი (without any characteristic of [good] luck, unlucky) წიგნ-ი - უ-წიგნ-ურ-ი (without any characteristic of booksmart, illiterate) გონე - უ-გუნ-ურ-ი (without any characteristic of mind/cleverness, idiot) ო-უ assimilation წვერ-ი - უ-წვერ-ულ-ი (without any look of beard, beardless) and so on a vs b უწიგნო means both without any books, or without any book-smartness, but უწიგნური means only latter and is the most common for that meaning.

c. უ-R-არ-ი is the last one of our list and also one of the most uncommon from the list, though this doesn't mean the words used here are uncommon, just confix not being used that much. Let's see the examples: შიშ-ი - უ-შიშ-არ-ი (without any fear, fearless) -წყინ-* - უ-წყინ-არ-ი (without causing any harm, harmless) *comes from the vowel-shifted verb წყენა which now took the meaning of to harm someone's heart, as in to hurt them verbally or by doing something, to upset.

-მეც-* - უ-მეც-არ-ი (not smart, illiterate...) *probably has the same root as მეცადინე or მეცნიერი

This lesson was a big one to write!!! Anyways. I am not saying thanks now cause next week the 3rd part is going to come out. You gotta wait for that! Cheers :) შემდეგ კვირამდე