Preverbs are morphemes that appear in the beginning of a verb (before any other morpheme) and have different functions. Preverbs can:

• Express the direction of movement,
• Form the future tense,
• Show whether the action is completed or not, and
• Form lexically new words.

Preverbs in Georgian occur in the future and past tenses. Only one group of verbs (so called stative verbs) may have preverbs in the present tense in modern Georgian).

Preverbs have different functions:

1. Preverbs can indicate direction and location:

The characteristic feature of preverbs in Georgian is that they express not only the direction of movement but also the orientation/location of speakers (both first and second persons) relative to the movement expressed by the verb, e. g.:

Se-di-s masTan  she-di-s mastan he enters (/ comes in) where he is, but:

Semo-di-s CemTan shemo-di-s chemtan he enters (/ comes in) where I am,
Semo-di-s SenTan shemo-di-s shentan  he enters (/ comes in) where you are.

The orientation "here/hither" implies motion directed to the place where either the first or the second person is present.
The orientation "there/thither" implies motion directed to the place where  neither the first nor the second person is present.

15 preverbs occur in modern Georgian:

More information about preverbs: Orientation

Preverbs and postpositions often have shared origin and shared functions; e. g.

saxl-Si Se-vida
saxl-shi she-vida
(house-in in-go+Aor)
"He entered [went into] the house".

Some preverbs and postpositions predict or determine the use of each other, e. g.
The preverb da- da- and the postposition -ze -ze on,
The preverb Ca- cha- and the postposition -Si -shi in:
 

da-varda miwa-ze da-varda mic'a-ze [she/he/it] fell down to the ground.

but:
 

Ca-varda wyal-Si cha-varda c'q'al-shi [she/he/it] fell into the water.

2. Preverbs can form the future tense
A certain preverbs is used for a certain verb in order to form the future tense without having any specific nuances of direction, e. g.:
 

Present tense	Future tense formed by preverb
is xatavs is xat'avs He is painting it/He paints it	is da-xatavs is da-xat'avs He will paint it

 

Present tense	Future tense formed by preverb
is akeTebs is ak'etebs He is painting it/He paints it	is ga-akeTebs is ga-ak'etebs He will paint it

Other preverbs may also be used with the same verb, but in such cases the verb shows direction too, e. g.:
 

Present tense shared for different verb forms	Future tense formed by preverbs
is xatavs is xat'avs he is painting it/he paints it	is gada-xatavs is gada-xat'avs he will paint it from something is Ca-xatavs is cha-xat'avs he will "paint down", make a sketch is mo-xatavs is da-xat'avs he will paint over the certain surface

The same preverb is used in order to form the past tense of the same verb. That is why it is important to learn both present and future tense forms of the verb. The present tense form is, in fact, shared for different verb forms. Only the future tense reviels the "real" form and meaning of a Georgian verb.  It is not possible to guess or predict which preverb will be used in the future tense of a certain verb -- you just have to learn it.
 

Formation of the future tense will be touched upon in more detail in the next lectures.
Other tense forms are often formed from the future tense forms in Georgian. We will turn to this rules later. A short information about these rules is found here.

Some verbs can have the preverbs and retain the meaning of the present tense at the same time. These form a group of the stative verbs.

Conjugation of the verb me mivdivar I go in the present tense:

Present tense

me mi-v-di-var me mi-v-di-var I am going Cven mi-v-di-var-T chven mi-v-di-var-t We are going - Sen mi-di-xar shen mi-di-xar You are going Tqven mi-di-xar-T tkven mi-di-xar-t You are going - is mi-di-s is mi-di-s He is going isini mi-di-an isini mi-di-an They are going

The verbs to bring and to carry do also have the preverbs in the present tense. Click here to view the tables.
Other stative verbs having preverbs in the present tense:

frinavs prinavs (s/he/it is flying)

da-frinavs	mi-frinavs	mo-frinavs
da-prinavs	mi-prinavs	mo-prinavs
s/he/it is flying  (without any certain direction)	s/he/it is flying (Motion is directed from the first person to the third person, leaving, getting far away from the first person)	s/he/it is flying (Motion is directed from the third person to the first person, coming, getting closer to the first person)

xtis xt'is (s/he/it is jumping)

da-xtis	mi-xtis	mo-xtis
da-xt'is	mi-xt'is	mo-xt'is
s/he/it is jumping (without any certain direction)	s/he/it is jumping (Motion is directed from the first person to the third person, leaving, getting far away from the first person)	s/he/it is jumping (Motion is directed from the third person to the first person, coming, getting closer to the first person)

etc

More information: Functions of preverb in Old Georgian click here.

3. Preverbs partially participate in the marking of aspect (aspect is a grammatical category associated with verbs and expresses a temporal view of the event or state expressed by the verb).

Georgian distinguishes the perfective (completed) and imperfective (non-completed) aspects.
 

4. Preverbs may also change the lexical meaning of a word:
 

Even such verbs are presented without any preverb in the present tense:

Present tense The present tense form is shared for different verb forms	Future tense Preverbs are presented in the future (and indefinite past) tense forms and reveal a real meaning of the verb
is agebs is agebs This form may have at least three different meanings: 1. He is building it 2. He is losing (a game) 3. He is spreading it on the certain surface	is a-agebs is a-agebs He will build it is wa-agebs is c'a-agebs He will lose it (a game) is da-agebs is da-agebs He will spread it on the certain surface

Place of preverb
A preverb is usually followed by a person marker:
e. g.
v-xatav  v-xat'av I paint (//I am painting).
da-v-xatav da-v-xat'av I will paint
 

Preverb	Person marker	Rest of a verb (Root+suffixes)
ø	v- v-	xatav xat'av	I paint (//I am painting)
da- da-	v- v-	xatav xat'av	I will paint

After a subject marker, a so-called relation marker (vowel prefix) may occur; e. g.
 

Preverb	Person marker	Relation marker	Rest of a verb (Root+suffixes)
da-	v-	u-	xat-av
da-	v-	u-	xat'-av

A relation marker indicates whether the result of an action is related to the person who fulfilled an action, or to someone else.

• da-v-xate davxat'e means "I have painted", while
• da-v-u-xate da-v-u-xat'e means "I have painted to (/for) someone else"

Only these three types of prefixes occur in Georgian verbs: Preverb-Person marker-Relation marker:
 
 

Preverb	Person marker	Relation marker	Rest of a verb (Root+Suffixes)
Preverb usually consists of one or two syllables. Options: (A single vowel: a-dis a-dis s/he is going upwards, consonant+vowel: Ca-dis chadis  s/he is going downwards, consonant+vowel+consonant+vowel: gada-dis gada-dis s/he is going over somthing	Person marker is always a single consonant, sometimes even zero-marker	Relation marker is always a single vowel	Root often starts with a consonant.
15 preverbs are attested in modern Georgian (see the list above).	m- / v- m- / v- (I pers.) h-, s-, ø or x- h-, s-, ø or x- (II pers.)	a-, e-, i-. u- a-, e-, i-. u-
For example: da	v	u	xat-av
da	v	u	xat'-av