Screeves
The forms of the verb, changed by the person and number, form one group, one paradigm; e. g.:

Present:
 
v-xatav xatav xatav-s v-xatav-T xatav-T xatav-en
v-xat'av xat'av xat'av-s v-xat'av-t xat'av-t xat'av-en
I paint you paint he/she paints we paint you paint they paint

The name of such a paradigm is "mc'k'rivi", which may be translated into English by "a row". The simplified form of the Georgian term "mc'k'rivi" "screeve" is used in English. A "screeve" (a row) has approximately the same functions as the tense forms in English. There are fewer rows in Georgian than in English: 16 rows (tense forms) in English and 11 rows (screeves) in Georgian. The main features distinguishing the screeves from one another are tense, aspect, and mood.

All eleven rows (the tense/aspect/mood forms) are grouped into three large groups, or series.

Three series (eleven screeves)

In the table below only the first subject person forms  (v-xatav vxat'av  I paint) are presented.
Translation of the forms does not cover all possible meanings that these forms may have in different contexts together with the different conjunctions (that, if...) and modal words (must, should...). (for more detailed onformation click here).
 

The first series
Present v-xat-av   v-xat'-av I am painting
Imperfect v-xat-av-d-i  v-xat'-av-d-i I was painting
Present subjunctive v-xat-av-d-e  v-xat'-av-d-e If I painted




Future da-v-xat-av  da-v-xat'-av I shall paint
Conditional (//I Iterative ) da-v-xat-av-d-i  da-v-xat'-av-d-i I would paint
Future subjunctive da-v-xat-av-d-e  da-v-xat'-av-d-e If I painted (in the future)

 
 
 
The second series
Aorist (//Past completed) da-v-xat-e da-v-xat'-e I painted
Optative (//Subjunctive 2) da-v-xat-o da-v-xat'-o If I painted

 
 
The third series
Perfect  (//Resultative 1// Present resultative) da-m-i-xat-av-s// da-m-i-xat-ia da-m-i-xat'-av-s // da-m-i-xat'-ia (Apparently) I have painted
Pluperfect (//Resultative 2//Past resultative) da-m-e-xat-a da-m-e-xat'-a (Apparently) I had painted
Subjunctive 3 (//Perfect subjunctive)   da-m-e-xat-o-s da-m-e-xat'-o-s If I had painted;
I wish that I would have painted

Different types of verbs have different forms in certain screeves. For instance, the imperfect is formed by adding the suffix -d for this type (vxat'av-d-i - I was painting), while verbs type 4 form the imperfect by adding the suffix -od: vmRer-od-i vmgherodi I was singing.

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