Georgian/Questions
Questions
[edit | edit source]Yes/No questions
[edit | edit source]The only way in which an utterance is marked as a yes/no question is by altering the intonation of a statement sentence: the pitch rises towards the end of the sentence. For example:
- Chemtan ertad mokhval, 'you will come with me'
- Chemtan ertad mokhval?, 'will you come with me?'
Tag questions
[edit | edit source]Those tag questions which expect an affirmative answer may employ the particle xom in second position within the sentence. Compare statement, yes/no question, and tag question expecting an affirmative answer:
- Dghes k'argi amindia, 'The weather is good today'
- Dghes k'argi amindia?, 'is the weather good today?'
- Dghes khom k'argi amindia?, 'the weather is good today, isn't it?'
These sentences contain an -a- suffixed to the word amindi 'weather'. It is a reduced form of the verb aris, 'is'. Note that the tag question in Georgian does not include any of the three recognized negative particles (see subsection, "Negation"); the particle khom by itself conveys the meaning. However, if the answer expected is negative, then a negative particle and the full form aris are added right after khom:
- Dghes khom ar aris k'argi amindi?, 'the weather is not good today, is it?'
There is a particle, tu, which can be used to make a question more polite. The particle tu has many meanings in Georgian; in this context it cannot be exactly translated to English. Compare:
- Chai ginda?, 'do you want some tea?'
- Chai tu ginda?, 'would you like some tea?'
Interrogatives
[edit | edit source]Interrogative adjectives and interrogative pronouns are declined differently. An example of an interrogative adjective in English is which, as in "which city do you like the most?", while an example of an interrogative pronoun which is in the sentence "which (one) will you take?".
Some interrogative pronouns in Georgian are:
| Georgian | English |
|---|---|
| ra | what? |
| vin | who? |
| ramdeni | how much (many) |
| romeli | which |
| rogor | how |
| rat'om | why |
| ristvis | what for |
| sad | where |
| rodis | when |
- სად ცხოვრობთ?
- Where do you live?
- რამდენი წლის ხარ?
- How old are you?
Negation
[edit | edit source]There are three kinds of negation particles in Georgian: ar, 'not', ver, 'cannot', and nu, 'do not!. Ar is the chief one. Ver is only used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the sentence is not able to carry out an action. Nu is only used when giving negative commands. Examples:
- Tsasvla ar minda, 'I do not want to go'
- Ver movedi, 'I could not come'
- Nu nerviulob!, 'don't worry!'
These three particles can be modified with the suffix -ghar, to create particles meaning 'no longer, no more':
- ar, 'not' → aghar, 'no longer, not anymore'
- ver, 'cannot' → veghar, 'can no longer, cannot anymore'
- nu, 'do not' → nughar, 'do no longer, do not anymore'
Examples of the use of these derived negative words:
- Pexburts aghar vtamashob, 'I do not play football anymore'
- Veghar vch'am, 'I cannot eat anymore'
- Nughar iparav!, 'do not steal anymore!'