L7: Degrees of Adjectives

Hello again! I apologize for not uploading a lesson last week. But fear not, for I have come back! Woohoo. This lesson is for beginners so expect it to be quite easy. In Georgian, there are 3 forms of adjectives in terms of degree: 1) დადებითი (Positive) - describes primary, normal, positive state of an adjective. 2) უფროობითი (Superlative) - describes the highest degree of a quality, when compared to others. 3) ოდნაობითი (Lesser Degree/Diminutive) - describes a state, which is less than normal, positive. I will discuss the Georgian names of the 2 degrees, so you understand a little better. The word უფროობითი comes from the adverb უფრო, meaning 'more', and the grammatical complex suffix -ობ-ით-ი, which is used to derive many grammar terms. On the other hand, the word ოდნაობითი comes from the adverb ოდნავ, meaning 'a little', 'less', and the suffix -ობ-ით-ი. This should clear up what each of them mean, right? I am planning to teach you comparative degree, which isn't really directly expressed through confixes, unlike these two, later, when you learn dative case (quite easy, to be honest).

Warning: The degrees of adjectives are mainly formed from ვითარებითი (primary) adjectives, though some secondary ones do take superlative degree. For more information, look in L5. Also include common sense, some adjectives like კოჭლი (lame, crippled). Also some adjectives have one form and may not have other one.

OK! Now let's get to building the words and some examples to show. 1) უფროობითი ხარისხის ფორმები (the forms of superlative degree) are formed by the confix უ-R-ეს-ი (-ი being of course the nominative case). The root may go through vowel deletion, which will be, again, discussed in a later lesson. I am sorry for putting that lesson over, but it's just too difficult to discuss easily. Let's look at examples: დიდ-ი -> უ-დიდ-ეს-ი (biggest) წმინდა -> უ-წმინდ-ეს-ი (most sentient/angelic/saintlike) მაღალ-ი -> უ-მაღლ-ეს-ი

მწვანე -> უ-მწვან-ეს-ი 2) ოდნაობითი ხარისხის ფორმები are formed by the confix მო-R-ო. The root may go through vowel deletion. Let's look at examples: დიდ-ი -> მო-დიდ-ო წმინდა -> X მაღალ-ი -> მო-მაღლ-ო მწვანე -> მო-მწვან-ო Let's learn another rule-exception: If the adjective ends with the suffixes -ელ- or -ილ-, they get deleted: გრძ-ელ-ი (long) -> მო-გრძ-ო; უ-გრძ-ეს-ი სქ-ელ-ი (thick) -> მო-სქ-ო; უ-სქ-ეს-ი ტკბ-ილ-ი (sweet) -> მო-ტკბ-ო; უ-ტკბ-ეს-ი თბ-ილ-ი (warm) -> მო-თბ-ო; უ-თბ-ეს-ი There are 2 exceptions to this rule: წით-ელ-ი (red) and ყვით-ელ-ი (yellow), which in superlative degree don't get the -ელ- removed, and in diminutive degree, they change -ელ- to -ალ-: წით-ელ-ი -> მო-წით-ალ-ო; უ-წით-ლ-ეს-ი ყვით-ელ-ი -> მო-ყვით-ალ-ო; უ-ყვით-ლ-ეს-ი

And there it is! The image depicts the degree of each mountain (მთა). That's it for this lesson folks! Sorry that it's so short. Next time expect a big lesson! Bye and have an amazing holidays, since the summer is finally here.