Knowing the verb “to be” in Georgian is one of the most important steps of learning this language. Therefore, you should know it just after the alphabet. It will be of help in several situations. Even if you forget other verbs, you can always use it with nouns or pronouns. Memorizing those 6 words – the verb “to be” in present tense – will enable you to create your first simple sentences and will be of great help when learning some of the other verbs’ conjugations.
The verbs conjugate in the Georgian language, hence each person has their own assigned form of the verb. As a result we can often skip adding the pronoun as just based on the conjugated verb you are able to understand who is doing something. However, especially at the beginning of your study, I would always recommend using it to memorize it better. Otherwise after half of a year of studing you may not remember how to say he or they, which may be unfortunate.
How does the verb “to be” conjugate?
You’ll need the personal pronouns for it. If you do not know them by now, learn them with us in this post. This is how the verb “to be” ყოფნა (khopna) looks like in the present tense:
მე ვარ (me var)
შენ ხარ (shen char)
ის არის (is aris)
ჩვენ ვართ (chven vart)
თქვენ ხართ (tkven khart)
ისინი არიან (isini arian)
How to study this Georgian verb?
Start with reading it several times on your own. Read the whole pair, so the verb with the pronoun. If you want to practice it a bit, do the following exercise. Pick the person in your mother language and say the whole pair – this person and the corresponding verb – in Georgian. Then you may switch to writing the same.
Maybe while looking at this conjugation, you have noticed a specific dependence. The forms of I and we differ from each other only with one letter, თ. This is exactly the ending of the plural form that is common for many verbs. Notice that the similar difference you have with the form of „you” singular and plural, however not with the 3rd person.
Now, what is left, is to learn those words by playing with it and using them in different exercises.
