Nouns
Nouns denote things and answer the questions: who? and  what? e. g.: man, woman, table, etc.

• Group "who" and group "what"
• Grammatical number of nouns
• General information about declension
• General information about case functions
• The noun phrase (noun+noun)

To divide reality into human and non human entities and to unify animate and inanimate things into one class is not a feature special  to Georgian; Such unification is found also in Indo-European languages, for instance in English (pronoun it).

Grammatical number of nouns
Nouns have two numbers in Georgian: singular and plural. A noun in the singular is a sequence of a  stem morpheme and a  case marker, and in the plural, a sequence of a stem morpheme, a plural marker -eb -eb, and a case marker:
 

Note: Plural forms (like in Old Georgian) formed by the suffixes -n -n and T/-Ta -t /-ta are also found. They have a stylistic function connected to poetic and higher style, and also to the terminology and name giving in modern standard Georgian, e. g.:
sabWo-Ta kavSiri sabch'o-ta k'avshiri (The Soviet Union)

More information:
Plural of substantives formed by the suffixes -n/-ta in Old Georgian and in modern dialects

The plural formed by the suffixes -n / -Ta -n / -ta was usual in Old Georgian although plural formed by the suffix -eb-eb is also evidenced even in the oldest texts.

The plural is formed by adding the plural marker -n -n to the stem in the nominative and the vocative. The suffix -T/-Ta -t / -ta formed all other cases in Old Georgian. The suffix -n -n is a plural marker followed by case markers (-i in the nominative and -o in the vocative), while the suffix -T/-Ta -t / -ta is a fusional marker both for number and case, e. g.:

Plural forms formed by the suffixes -n -n and T/-Ta -t /-ta are also found in modern Georgian They have a stylistic function connected to poetic and higher style, and also to the terminology and name giving in modern standard Georgian, e. g.:
sabWo-Ta kavSiri sabch'o-ta k'avshiri (The Soviet Union)
qalTa dRe kalta dge (Women's day)
etc.

In modern standard Georgian, the suffixes -T/-Ta -t/-ta  usually expresses the genitive case. In modern dialects in the mountainous regions it can express the ergative, the dative and the genitive cases. The plural formed by the suffix -eb -eb is also usual in these dialects.

N o t e:
Not all nouns can form the plural. Like in other languages, material nouns (name of materials), usually do not form the plural: rkina rk'ina iron, wyali c'q'ali water, oqro okro gold etc.

Some nouns, singular by form, denote a group and have the semantics of plural (collective nouns). Verbs used with them are in the singular; e. g.:
 
 

Some verbs have different roots to reflect the semantics of plural of the collective noun (subject):
 
 

General information about declension

Nouns conform to one declension, with variant forms for consonantal and vocalic stems. Differences in declension connected to the consonantal (stems ending in a consonant) and vocalic stems (stems ending in a vowel) are considered in the chapter Declension of nouns. Only the general information is presented here.
Georgian has seven cases:

Differences among some groups of nouns in declension are mainly due to phonetic factors. On the basis of those factors nouns are divided into five main groups:

1. Non-reducible stems ending in a consonant (non-reducible consonantal stems)
2. Reducible stems ending in a consonant (reducible consonantal stems)

3. Stems ending in the vowel -a (truncated, or clippable) vocalic stems 
4. Stems ending in the vowel -e (truncated, or clippable only in singular) vocalic stems
5. Stems ending in the vowels -o, -u (non-truncated, or non-clippable) vocalic stems (there are also two or three common names ending in the vowel -i in this group)

There are some other nuances but they will not be touched upon here.

Distribution of case markers after the consonantal and vocalic stems (Transcription)

Stems ending in vowels (vocalic stems):
 

More particularly
Stems ending in consonant form two groups:

1) Non-reducible stems: neither stem nor case marker undergo any change either in the singular or in the plural, e. g.: saxl-i, saxl-is, saxl-eb-i... (Table 1).

2) Reducible stems: reduction of a stem vowel occurs in the genitive, instrumental and adverbial cases in the singular and in all seven cases in the plural. Stems ending in a syllable consisting of the vowel -a or -e  (-a or -e), also -o -o, and the sonorants -l, -m, -n, -r  (-l, -m, -n, -r)  belong to this group. These syllables are:

-al, -am, -an, -ar (-al, -am, -an, -ar)
-el, -em, -en, -er (-el, -em, -en, -er)
-ol, -om, -on, -or (-ol, -om, -on, or)
 

E g.: wyali-i  wyl-is c'q'al-i c'q'l-is water -Nom- water-Gen.
mter-i mtr-is mt'er-i  mt'r-is enemy-Nom- enemy -Gen

Declension of reducible stems is represented in the Table 2a.
 

The so-called emphatic vowel -a-a may be presented in the dative, genitive and instrumental after both reducible and non-reducible stems (both in the singular and the plural) in certain positions, but even in these positions (where the emphatic vowel -a -a is allowed) forms without the emphatic -a are also permitted. This -a is presented in the brackets in the tables below.
 

N o t e 1.
The vowel -o -o preceded or followed by bilabial sounds does not leave any trace after reduction (Table 2b). In other positions, the sonorant -v appears as a result of reduction of the vowel -o -o (Table 2c).

N o t e 2
Reduction does not occur in anthrophonyms (proper names of humans), nor in proper names of animals; comp.:

Nom. qamar-i  kamar-i (a belt)
Gen.  qamr-is  kamr-is

but:

Nom. Tamar-i    Tamar-i   (the name of a woman)
Gen.  Tamar-is  Tamar-is

Reduction takes place in place names (likewise ordinary appelatives // common names):

Nom.  yvarel-i  q'varel-i (a name of a town)
Gen.   yvarl-is q'varl-is
 

N o t e 3
In some homonym pairs, reducible and non-reducible forms distinguish the different stems; e. g.:
non-reducible stem Tval-i tval-i means "eye", reducible stem Tval-i tval-i means "wheel", also "gem":

Non-reducible Tval-i tval-i eye:

Nom.
Tval-i  Tval-ebi tval-i  tval-eb-i
Gen. Tval-is  Tval-eb-is tval-is   tvaleb-is

Reducible Tval-i tval-i wheel;  gem:
Nom. Tval-i  Tvl-eb-i tval-i tvl-eb-i
Gen. Tvl-is   Tvl-eb-is tvl-is tvleb-is

Likewise: the non-reducible stem wel-i c'el-i means "waist", the reducible stem wel-i c'el-i means "year".

N o t e 4
Besides stems ending in the sonorants -l -m -n -r ( -l, -m, -n, -r), stems ending in the voiced consonant -b -b may also undergo reduction (Table 2d). -b -b shows features of sonorants in some other positions too. Reduction takes place in one stem ending in voiceless abruptive y q' (in west Georgian dialects) (Table 2e).

Table 1. A Declension of a non-reducible stem

Table 2a  Declension of a reducible stem

Table 2b:  -o does not leave any trace after reduction:

Table 2c:   v- as a trace after reduced -o:

Table 2d: Reducible stem ending in -b -b

Table 2e: Reducible stem ending in y q'

More information about reduction

Not all common nouns ending in such syllables (a / e / o + l m n r) undergo reduction. Two groups may be considered here: monosyllabic stems and stems consisting of more than one syllable.
a) If in monosyllabic stems a consonant cluster expected after reduction is a cluster with the increasing fricativeness, reduction may occur, otherwise reduction is not expected (Tevdore uTurgaiZe, qarTuli enis fonematuri struqtura, Tevdore Uturgaidze, Kartuli enis ponemat'uri st'rukt'ura, Tbilisi, Mecniereba, 1976); e. g.:

Nom. skam-i  (chair)
Gen. skam-is
Reduction does not occur because after reduction an "unnatural" cluster with the discrete fricativeness skm- would have been formed.

b) If a stem consists of more than one syllable, reduction may occur even if a discrete or decreasing fricativity consonant cluster is expected as a result of reduction, because such a cluster, formed after the reduction, is usually divided between two vowels and belongs to two different syllables. (Tevdore uTurgaiZe, qarTuli enis fonematuri struqtura, Tevdore uturgaidze, Kartuli enis ponemat'uri st'rukt'ura,Tbilisi, Mecniereba, 1976); e. g.:

Nom. qaTam-i  (a hen)
Gen. qaTm-is

A stem that does not undergo a reduction may be reduced as the constituent part of a composed word:

Nom. kar-i (door)
Gen. kar-is

comp.
Nom. ciskar-i  (morning, morn)
Gen. ciskr-is

In some monosyllabic stems, where the reduction takes place in Modern Georgian, reduction did not occur in Old Georgian; e. g.:

Old Georgian:
Nom. juar-i  (cross)
Gen. juar-is

Modern Georgian:
Nom. jvar-i
Gen. jvr-is

Examples of the reversed examples are also found.

According to Chikobava, the reason for reduction must have been an intensive dynamic stress supposed in Old Georgian (A. Chikobava...). But for Uturgaidze,  the number of syllables and the quality of a consonant cluster, expected after the possible reduction,  are decisive factors (Tevdore Uturgaidze 1976), while for Mar, an original reason for the reduction must have been the sonant nature of the consonants l, m, n, r   (Niko Mar, Grammatika Drevneliteraturnogo Gruzinskogo jazyka, Sankt-Peterburg, 1925).

Declension of personal proper names ending in a consonant
First names ending in a consonant (including foreign names) take the nominative case marker -i -i:
 

Surnames ending in -shvili and -dze are declined as common names.
Surnames ending in -a are declined as first names ending in a vowel (stem does not undergo any change).

When the first name and surname are declined together, only the surname is declined and the first name remains unchanged:
 

Nominative	nodar gagoSiZe-ø	nodar gagoshidze-ø
Ergative	nodar gagoSiZe-m	nodar gagoshidze-m
Dative	nodar gagoSiZe-s	nodar gagoshidze-s
Genitive	nodar gagoSiZ-is	nodar gagoshidz-is
Instrumental	nodar gagoSiZ-iT	nodar gagoshidz-it
Adverbial	nodar gagoSiZe-d	nodar gagoshidze-d
Vocative	nodar gagoSiZe-v	nodar gagoshidze-v

The title or name of profession followed by proper names is partially declined:

eqimi nodar gagoSiZe
ekimi nodar gagoshidze
doctor Nodar Gagoshidze

Nominative	eqim-i nodar gagoSiZe-ø	ekim-i nodar gagoshidze-ø
Ergative	eqim-ma nodar gagoSiZe-m	ekim-ma nodar gagoshidze-m
Dative	eqim nodar gagoSiZe-s	ekim nodar gagoshidze-s
Genitive	eqim nodar gagoSiZ-is	ekim nodar gagoshidz-is
Instrumental	eqim nodar gagoSiZ-iT	ekim nodar gagoshidz-it
Adverbial	eqim nodar gagoSiZe-d	ekim nodar gagoshidze-d
Vocative	eqim-o nodar gagoSiZe-v	ekim-o nodar gagoshidze-v

Vocalic stems
.Stems ending in the vowels -a -a  and -e -e
Stems ending in vowels form two groups:

• Clippable - in certain cases a stem drops that vowel in which it ends.

• Non-clippable - a stem remains unchanged in the whole paradigm of declension (in all the seven cases).

3. Stems ending in the vowel -a
Nouns ending in the vowel -a -a have the zero-marker ø in the nominative in the singular. They drop the last -a in the genitive and instrumental cases in the singular and in all seven cases in the plural (Table 3).

4. Stems ending in the vowel -e
Nouns ending in the vowel -e -e have the zero-marker ø in the nominative in the singular. Nouns ending in the vowel -e -e drop the last -e -e in the genitive and instrumental cases in the singular, but retain it in all seven cases in the plural (Table 4).
 

N o t e  1:
The emphatic vowel -a -a may be presented in the dative, genitive and instrumental cases after the clippable stems (both in the singular and plural) in definite positions, but even in these positions (where the emphatic vowel -a-a is allowed) forms without the emphatic -a are also permitted. This -a is presented in the brackets in the tables below.

N o t e  2.
Anthroponyms  ending in -a -a and -e -e do not drop the last vowel in the singular. Instead of stems, the case markers undergo changes: the case markers in the genitive, instrumental and adverbial cases drop the vocal in modern Georgian (Table 5a). This applies to the appelatives (common names) equated with proper nouns as well (Table 5b). When the vocal part of the case marker is reduced, the emphatic vowel -i is presented instead of the emphatic vowel -a -a in these cases (gen., instr.).

N o t e  3
In Old Georgian, stems ending in the reducible -a -a and -e -e  declined almost the same way as in modern Georgian (Table 3b and Table 4b). Vocal part of the case marker preceded by non-reducible stem vowel -a -a or -e -e, was reduced to the "semivowel" -j in the nominative, genitive and instrumental cases, and it was completely omitted in the adverbial case.

Table 3.  Stems ending in the vowel -a -a (clippable) vocalic stems
Stems ending in the vowel -a -a are said to be clippable in that the -a is omitted in the genitive and instrumental cases and in all seven cases when the -a precedes the plural marker -eb:

Table 3b. Stem ending in the clippable -a in Old Georgian

Table 4: Stems ending in the clippable -e
Stems ending in the vowel -e -e are said to be clippable in that the -e is omitted in the genitive and instrumental cases but is retained in all plurals:

Table 4b. Stem ending in the clippable -e in Old Georgian

5. Stems ending in thevowels -i -i,  -o -o and -u -u  (non-clippables)
Stems ending in the vowels -i, -o, -u (-i, -o, -u) are non-clippable in that their stems remain unchanged even though their case markers are reduced in the genitive, instrumental and adverbial cases in the singular: (Table 5a and Table 5b). When the vocal part of the case marker is reduced, the emphatic vowel -i -i is presented instead of -a -a in these cases (gen., instr.).

In Old Georgian, the vocal part of the case marker preceded by the non-clippable stem vowels  -o -o or -u -u was reduced to the "semivowel" -j in the nominative, genitive and instrumental, and it was completely omitted in the adverbial (Table 5c  and Table 5d). The one exception, both in modern and Old Georgian, is the stem Rvino gvino (wine), which drops the last -o -o in the genitive and the instrumental in the singular (Table 6).

The emphatic vowel  -a may be presented in the dative and the emphatic vowel  -i in the genitive and instrumental cases in the singular in this group, while the emphatic vowel  -a is presented in the dative, genitive and instrumental cases in the plural of this group. In those positions (where emphatic vowels are admissible) forms without emphatic vowel are also permitted. These vowels (-a and -i) are presented in the brackets in the tables below.

Table 5a. Stem ending in the vowel -o (non-clippable):

Table 5b. Stem ending in the vowel -u (non-clippable)

Table 5c. Stem ending in the non-clippable -o in Old Georgian

Table 5d. Stem ending in the non-clippable -u in Old Georgian

Table 6. There is one clippable stem ending in the vowel -o attested both in Old and Modern Georgian

This stem is non-clippable in plural (it can have the plural when it denotes countable name)
 

Table 5e. Anthroponyms (always non-clippable)
Declension of first names ending in any vowel follows the paradigm of the stems ending in -o -and -u, and any vowel belonging to the stem of first names remains unchanged. First names in the vocative case have no marker:
 

Table 5f: Common nouns in the sense of proper nouns are unclippable:

Nominative, ergative and dative - case forms of subject and objects
Nominative, ergative and dative cases can express the grammatical relations:(subject,direct object and indirect object) of finite verbs and thus form a group of syntactic cases in contrast to the semantic cases.

Nominative and dative have other functions too.

The semantic cases include the following:
 

The genitive case marks possession. It occupies an intermediate position marking, among other things, the arguments of verbal nouns.
 
 

Nominative, ergative and dative - case forms of subject and objects
Nominative, ergative and dative cases can express the grammatical relations:

• Subject
• Direct object
• Indirect object

The subject is that part of the sentence (or of the clause) that denotes the acting person or thing, or that part of the sentence (or of the clause), about which something is said. The subject answers the questions:  who? what?  e. g.:
Mother has come. The woman is writing a letter. A book is on the table.

In Indo-European languages the subject is usually either in the nominative case, e. g.: in English:

The man is reading.
The man has read.
The man will read

In Russian:

Chelovek chitaet.  The man is reading.
Chelovek prochjol.  The man read, the man has read
Chelovek prochtjot.  The man will read

In Georgian, the subject can occur not only in the nominative but also in either the nominative, ergative or dative cases, depending on the transitivity and tense/mood form of the verb (these rules will be discussed in the corresponding part of the course), e. g.:
 
 

The direct object is that part of the sentence (or of the clause) that is affected by the action performed by the subject. Direct object answers the questions: whom? what? e. g.: A man is writing a letter. She saw them. He knows everything.

In Indo-European languages, a direct object appears in either the so-called common case (which is the same as nominative) or in the accusative case (//objective case):

In English (common/nominative case):

The man is reading a book.
The man  has read a book.
The man will  read a book. etc.

In Russian (accusative case)

Chelovek chitaet knigu. The man is reading a book.
    (comp. nominative: kniga)
Chelovek prochjol knigu.  The man  has read a book.
Chelovek prochtjot knigu.  The man will have read a book, etc.

N o t e:
In languages where grammatical relations (subject and object) are marked by case endings, word order is less important in this function.

Subjects and objects can be in either the nominative case or the dative, depending on the verb form (subject in nominative and object in dative, or: subject in dative and object in nominative). In Georgian, only the ergative case is reserved solely for subjects.
 

Subject in nominative signals the direct object in dative, and subject in ergative or in dative signals the direct object in nominative. The case form of a subject itself is signalled by a verb form. (When a transitive verb is in the present tense, the subject is in the nominative case, the direct object is in the dative case. When a transitive verb is in the past tense, the subject is in the ergative case, the direct object is in the nominative case):

 

Transitive verb is in the present tense Subject is in the nominative case Direct object is in the dative case:

Exception: the verb is in the present tense, the subject is in the ergative case and the object is in the nominative:
kac-ma icis ambav-i
k'ac-ma icis ambav-i
man-Ergative knows (present tense) news-Nominative

Transitive verb is in the past tense Subject is in the ergative case Direct object is in the nominative case:

• The genitive case usually expresses an attribute (the part of the sentence which modifies subject or objects), in particular, a substantive attribute:

• The genitive also marks arguments of verbal nouns in Georgian. This means that the construction corresponding, for instance, to the English infinitive phrase "to eat an apple" is "(to) eat of an apple" in Georgian, e. g.

• The genitive is used with some constructions that in English feature an intransitive verb followed by a predicate adjective introducing a prepositional phrase beginning with of, about, by, etc.: eSinia eshinia is afraid, rcxvenia rcxvenia is ashamed:

The girl is afraid of darkness

The instrumental case can express:

• Instrument of action:

• Reason:

• Accompaniment

• Adverbial modifier of manner:

• Adverbials modifier of time and place:

N o t e:
These forms, since they express time and place, are considered to have formed a new group, adverbs, and since they are no longer classified as nouns thay cannot be declined like nouns.

The advebial case can express:

• Transformation of something into another thing or material (another name of the adverbial case is the transformative):

• The nominal part of a compound predicate:

• An adverbial modifier of time (with some stems)

• Adverbial modifier of place (with some stems)

• Adverbial modifier of purpose (with one kind of verbal nouns -  the future tense passive voice participles):

The only one function of the vocative is to address to a second person subject:
 

The nominative can express:

• A nominal part of a predicate:

The verbal part of a compound predicate  is usually reduced in the third person:
 
 

• Time (adverbial modifier of time):

The dative can express:
 

• Time (adverbial modifier of time):

• Place (adverbial modifier of place) (archaic style):

A noun phrase often consists of a noun (head noun) and an adjective or another noun (attribute). In the noun phrase white houses house the noun housesis the head noun, modified by the attribute white.

A noun may modify another noun, e. g.:

• Nana's bag (1)
• Teacher's duty (2)
• Mother's smile (3)

The word order in noun phrases in modern Georgian is: Attribute + Head noun, e. g.:
 

When used as attributes, nouns in the genitive case do not decline in modern Georgian. Only the so called head noun declines. Note that the attribute megobr-is megobr-is 'friend' is placed before the head noun wign-i, c'ign-i 'book'.
 

Examples of the head noun or the attribute in the plural, e. g.:

megobr-eb-is wign-i
megobr-eb-is c'ign-i
the friends' book

megobr-is wign-eb-i
megobr-is c'ign-eb-i
the friend's books

megobr-eb-is wign-eb-i
megobr-eb-is c'ign-eb-i
the friends' books

More information:
The reversive order of the noun phrase is also possible: Head noun + Attribute, e. g.:
 

This is a very rare and stylistically marked order in modern Georgian. This was widespread and actually the usual word order in Old Georgian. In modern Georgian in case of reversive order, both members of noun phrase decline:

Declension of a noun phrase with reversive word order in modern Georgian
 

More information about noun phrase:

The declension of both members (and if more members appeared, then of all members) was more complete in Old Georgian, e. g.:

Nom. sartyel-i tyav-isa aqlem-isa-jsa-j
Nom. sart'q'el-i t'q'av-isa aklem-isa-jsa-j
Nom. belt of camel skin

Erg. sartyel-man tyav-isa aqlem-isa-jsa-man
Erg. sart'q'el-man t'q'av-isa aklem-isa-jsa-man
 

The plural of the head noun was marked on the attribute too:

Nom. sartyel-n-i tyav-isa aqlem-isa-jsa-n-i
Nom. sart'q'el-n-i t'q'av-isa aklem-isa-jsa-n-i
Nom. belts of camel skin

Erg. sartyel-Ta tyav-isa aqlem-isa-jsa-Ta
Erg. sart'q'el-ta  t'q'av-isa aklem-isa-jsa-ta