Goal: you will narrate a trip with all the past forms.
Course progress: lesson 90 / 200
LIMBA audio course · Georgian
This written course gives you the grammar, the words and the script. The LIMBA audio course trains your ear and your mouth: you listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect complement to these lessons.
Download the Georgian audio courseOrder form · your download link arrives by emailWeek 19. Grape harvest in Kakheti
Bebo's cousin has a vineyard in a village in Kakheti, and in October the whole family went to help with the harvest. I picked grapes for the first time, and drank the youngest wine of my life.
This review lesson brings together unit 9: who did what in the past.
| Georgian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ვენახი | venakhi | vineyard |
| კალათი | k'alati | basket |
| ვკრეფ | vk'rep | I pick (fruit); past: მოვკრიფეmovk'ripe |
| მოკრიფა | mok'ripa | he, she picked |
| ბიძაშვილი | bidzashvili | cousin |
| სუფრა გაშალა | supra gashala | he, she laid the table |
| იმღერა | imghera | he, she sang |
| ასეთი | aseti | such, like this |
The pronunciation is written in English letters, following Georgia’s official romanization. Say every letter: a as in father, e as in pet, i as in machine, o as in port, u as in rule; r is rolled; g is always hard; kh as in Scottish loch; gh a soft gargled g, like a French r; sh as in shop; zh like the s in pleasure; ch as in church; ts as in cats; dz as in adze; j as in jam. An apostrophe marks a “popped” consonant, said with a little click in the throat and no puff of air: k’, p’, t’, ts’, ch’, q’ (q’ is made deep in the throat). Without an apostrophe, k, p, t, ts, ch have a small puff of air. Use the Pronunciation button at the top to hide or show it.
| what | rule | example |
|---|---|---|
| doer in the past | -მაma (consonant) / -მm (vowel) | კაცმა, ნინომ, მან, მათk'atsma, ninom, man, mat |
| object in the past | basic form | ნინომ ყურძენი მოკრიფაninom q'urdzeni mok'ripa |
| endings of the past | -ე, -ე, -ა / -ო, -ეთ, -ეთ, -ეს-e, -e, -a / -o, -et, -et, -es | დავწერე, დაწერა, დაწერესdavts'ere, dats'era, dats'eres |
| -ოo for he, she | დაიწყო, აიღო, მიიღო, გაიგო, დადო, გააღოdaits'q'o, aigho, miigho, gaigo, dado, gaagho | |
| irregular pasts | შევჭამე, დავლიე, ვთქვი, მივეციshevch'ame, davlie, vtkvi, mivetsi | |
| command | past form for "you" (+ -თt) | აიღეთ! დაიწყეთ!aighet! daits'q'et! |
| "don't" | ნუnu + present / future | ნუ ღელავ!nu ghelav! |
| doing (the doer takes -მაma / -მm) | moving, becoming (no -მაma) |
|---|---|
| ნინომ ყურძენი მოკრიფაninom q'urdzeni mok'ripa | ნინო კახეთში წავიდაnino k'akhetshi ts'avida |
| გიორგიმ იმღერაgiorgim imghera | გიორგი დაბრუნდაgiorgi dabrunda |
| მასპინძელმა სუფრა გაშალაmasp'indzelma supra gashala | სტუმრები მოვიდნენst'umrebi movidnen |
Notice გიორგიმ იმღერაgiorgim imghera, "Giorgi sang", even without an object: verbs of activity like სიმღერაsimghera (singing), ცეკვაtsek'va (dancing) or მუშაობაmushaoba (working) also take -მაma in the past. You will study them in lesson 153.
არასდროს მქონიაarasdros mkonia means "I have never had": a perfect, the tense of experience, which you will learn in unit 13.
At the end of a harvest day in Kakheti, the grapes are pressed and the juice poured into ქვევრიkvevri, large clay jars buried in the ground, where the wine ferments for months. Georgian winemaking in qvevri is one of the oldest in the world (lesson 174).
სუფრის გაშლაsupris gashla, "spreading the table", is the Georgian way to say "setting the table" for a feast.
Choose an answer for each question, then press Check my answers. Score 70% or more and the lesson is ticked on your course map.
Well done! Lesson 90 is ticked on your course map.
Say your answer out loud, write it down, then open the model answer.
Lesson finished? Now train your ear
This written course gives you the grammar, the words and the script. The LIMBA audio course trains your ear and your mouth: you listen, you repeat, you answer — the perfect complement to these lessons.
Download the Georgian audio courseOrder form · your download link arrives by email