Prepositions
Georgian doesn't have prepositions — it has postpositions: the same little words, standing after the noun and usually glued straight onto it. "In Tbilisi" is თბილისში tbilis-shi, literally "Tbilisi-in".
The big five (suffixed)
These attach to the noun (the dative's -ს drops before -ში and -ზე):
| postposition | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| -ში -shi | in, into | თბილისში tbilisshi — "in/to Tbilisi"; სახლში sakhlshi — "at home / into the house" |
| -ზე -ze | on, onto; about | მაგიდაზე magidaze — "on the table" |
| -თან -tan | at, by, with (a person) | მეგობართან megobartan — "at/with a friend" |
| -დან -dan | from, out of | თბილისიდან tbilisidan — "from Tbilisi" |
| -მდე -mde | until, up to | ხვალამდე khvalamde — "until tomorrow" |
Notice -ში covers both "in" and "into", -ზე both "on" and "onto": Georgian lets the verb say whether you're sitting there or heading there. მივდივარ სახლში mivdivar sakhlshi — "I'm going home"; ვარ სახლში var sakhlshi — "I'm at home."
-თვის "for" — rides on the genitive
-თვის -tvis attaches to the genitive (-ის) form:
| დედა → დედისთვის dedistvis | for mother | ეს დედისთვისაა es dedistvisaa — "this is for mother" |
| მე → ჩემთვის chemtvis | for me | |
| შენ → შენთვის shentvis | for you | ეს შენთვისაა es shentvisaa — "this is for you" |
Free-standing postpositions
A few stand as separate words after a genitive noun:
| postposition | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| შემდეგ shemdeg | after | სამუშაოს შემდეგ samushaos shemdeg — "after work" |
| წინ ts'in | before, in front of | სახლის წინ sakhlis ts'in — "in front of the house" |
| გარეშე gareshe | without | შაქრის გარეშე shakris gareshe — "without sugar" |
| გამო gamo | because of | ამის გამო amis gamo — "because of this" |
English → Georgian cheat sheet
| you want to say | reach for |
|---|---|
| in / into / to (a place) | -ში |
| on / onto / about (a topic) | -ზე |
| at someone's place, with a person | -თან |
| from | -დან |
| until / as far as | -მდე |
| for | -თვის (on the genitive) |
As everywhere, the mapping isn't one-to-one: Georgian says "on the bus" for riding it (ავტობუსით — actually the instrumental -ით "by") and "on the phone" for talking about it (ტელეფონზე). Learn the postposition together with the phrase, like phrasal verbs in English.
Takeaway
- Everything English does with in/on/at/from Georgian does with suffixes after the noun.
- Five glued ones (-ში, -ზე, -თან, -დან, -მდე) + -თვის cover most daily needs.
- Direction vs location is the verb's job, not the postposition's — one -ში does both "in" and "into".
Same chapter in: English · French · Spanish · German · Italian · Mandarin Chinese · Cantonese · Japanese · Malay