Definition and the principal classes of pronouns

• Personal pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Relative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

• Declension of the personal pronouns
• Declension of the demonstrative pronouns
• Declension of the demonstrative pronouns together with the noun
• Declension of the interrogative pronouns
• Declension of the possessive pronouns
• Declension of the possessive pronouns as attributes
• Pronouns with the postpositions

A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun, adjective or numeral.
The principal classes of pronouns are:
 

• Personal pronouns: me me I, Sen shen you, is is he / she / it, Cven chven we, Tqven tkven you, isini isini they
• Demonstrative pronouns: es es this, eg eg that, isis that, aseTi aseti this kind of..., egeTi egeti that kind of... iseTi iseti that kind of...
•  Interrogative pronouns: vin vin who? ra ra what? ramdeni ramdeni how many?
•  Possessive pronouns: Cemi, chemi my / mine, Seni sheni your / yours, misi misi his / her / its....
•  Interrogative-Possessive: visi visi whose? risa // risi risa // risi of what?
•  Relative pronouns: vinc vinc who (as a relative word and not as an interrogative pronoun but as a word joining two clauses, e. g.: women who have left)  rac rac what? visic visic whose?
•  Reciprocal pronouns: erTmaneTi ertmanti each other; one another.
•  Definite pronouns (Emphatic pronouns): TviTon tviton -self, TviTeuli tviteuli each, yoveli q'oveli every
•  Indefinite: erTi erti one (the basic meaning "one" as a numeral), kaci k'aci one (the basic meaning "man")
•  Negative: aravin aravin nobody, araferi araperi nothing...
•  Reflexive pronoun: Tavi tavi (the basic meaning "head"

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns stand for the names of persons and things.
 
 

is is in the singular and isini isini in the plural are the most "neutral" and common among the third person pronouns. That is why other pronouns of the third person are in the brackets.
 

What do four pronouns of the third person mean?
The demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are used as the third person pronouns in Georgian. Location of the third person relative to the speakers (the first and the second perons) is expressed by different pronouns used for the third person:
 

The system consists of three members correspondingly to three persons. The difference between is is and igi igi is only a style difference: in the standard Georgian igi igi belongs to the "written", or "book" style, while is is is more neutral and attested both in everyday, oral style and "book" style. When these pronouns are used as the demonstarative pronouns (is kaci is k'aci) usually only is is is evidenced even in the "write", "book" style. igi igi as the demonstrative pronoun (kaci igi k'aci igi / igi kaci igi k'aci) is proved in Old Georgian and in some modern Western dialects. However, the most often used third person pronounis is is is in modern Georgian

The analogous three members system is evidenced in adverbs as well, e. g.:

Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are:
vin vin who?
ra ra what?
romeli romeli which?
rogori rogori what kind?
rodindeli rodindeli from which time?
sadauri sadauri from where?
ramdeni ramdeni how many?

Relative pronouns (word joining a dependent clause to an independent clause) are formed by adding the particle -c -c to interrogative pronouns (in English interrogative and relative pronouns have one and the same form):
 

vinc	vinc	who
rac	rac	what
romelic	romelic	which
rogoric	rogoric	what kind
rodindelic	rodindelic	from which time
sadauric	sadauric	from where
ramdenic	ramdenic	how many; how much

E. g.:

vin Tqva es?  man, vinc icoda.
vin tkva es? man, vinc icoda.
Who said this? One who knew.
 

vin	Tqva	es?	man,	vinc	icoda.
vin	tkva	es	man	vin-c	icoda
who (Interrogative pronoun)	said	this	he (Erg.case)	who (Relative pronoun)	knew

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns indicete possession and answer the question "Whose?"
 

Four possessive pronouns in the third person correspond to the same number of the demonstrative and personal pronouns of the third person. The most common and the most often used possessive pronoun of the third person is misi misi. That is why other variants are presented in the brackets. The table below shows the corespondence between the third person personal pronouns and the third person possessive pronouns:
 

igini igini is a very rare form in modern Georgian.

All possesive pronouns are formed from personal pronouns by adding the nominative case marker -i -i:

All possessive pronouns are declinable.

Declension of pronouns
Declension of the personal pronouns
The first and the second persons personal pronouns may be considered as non-declined words. They do not change their form, unlike the third person pronoun which is declined and has six cases (the lack of a seventh case -- the vocative -- is caused by semantics: the third person cannot be the subject of an address). The defective paradigm of the first and the second person personal pronouns  is compencated by having person markers in verbs.

Compare the following forms:

(The reason for the change of the person marker (Subject > Object) will be discussed in the following parts of the course).

Thus, one and the same forms of the first and the second person pronouns fulfil the function of the nominative, ergative and dative cases.
First person pronoun in plural, as well as first and second person pronouns in plural and singular do not change form when they are followed by postpositions. Postpositions are attached to their stems.

First person pronoun in singular is presented with another stem (Cem-) when it is followed by postpositions.

N o t e:
The first and the second person pronouns do not have their own forms in the genitive, instrumental and adverbial cases. The stems of possessive pronouns can be used in these cases.

Declension of the demonstrative pronouns together with the noun:

Declension of the interrogative pronouns

The interrogative pronoun vin vin "who" does not take any case marker in the Ergative. It is only its function that makes difference between the nominative and the ergative forms of the interrogative pronoun vin vin "who". This phenomenon is analogous to the declension of the first and the second person personal pronouns. But unlike the first and the second person personal pronouns (that do not change their form whether they fulfil the function of nominative, ergative or dative cases), the pronoun vin vin "who" has a marker in the dative.

Compare the following forms:

Other interrogative pronouns decline like nouns. Clippable and reducible stems are also attested.

Interrogative pronoun vin vin "who"
 
 

N o t e:
The plural of the pronoun vin vin who, formed by the suffix -n, is attested in Old Georgian (vinani vinani) and the plural of the pronoun vin vin who, formed by the suffix -eb, is attested in some dialects of modern Georgian (vinebi vinebi).
 

Interrogative pronoun ra ra what

The interrrogative pronoun ra ra what is declined like the nouns ending in the vowel -a. The difference is that, usually, nouns ending in the vowel -a are clippable (drop the vowel at the absolut end of the stem) both
a) In some cases in the singular (genitive and instrumental cases) and
b) In all cases in the plural.

Unlike the nouns, the interrogative pronoun ra ra what is clippable only in the singular (in the genitive and instrumental cases) but not in the plural.

Compare the following paradigms:

The interrrogative pronouns vin vin who and ra ra what have no plural forms but in some cases they take a plural too (dialects, oral speech).

Interrogative pronoun romeli romeli which
Interrogative pronoun romeli romeli which is declined like a reducible noun (drops a vowel inside a stem in three cases in the singular and in all the cases in the plural).

Declension of the possessive pronouns
a) Separately
 
 

  The third person possessive pronouns (misi misi his / her and maTi mati their) separately are declined like nouns ending in a consonant (non-reducible stem). Usually they function as attributes and are declined together with the nouns.

b) As attributes (together with the nouns)

When the noun is in the plural (e. g.: rveul-eb-i) an attribute does not change its number:
Cem-i rveul-i -- Cem-i rveul-eb-i
chem-i rveul-i -- chem-i rveul-eb-i

 The third person possessive pronouns as attributes