More information about postpositions

• Some changes of case markers and postpositions in Modern Georgian
• Postpositions in dialects
• Postpositions in Old Georgian

Postpositions follow either case markers or bare stems; e. g.: the postposition -Si -shi "in" follows the bare stem, -Tvis -tvis "for" follows the genitive, etc.

A postposition is a morpheme which is added either to the case marker or to the bare stem of a declinable word and shows the situation, direction, purpose or other function of the word. Some postpositions are affixed to the noun, while some of them are standing separately.

Postpositions in Georgian have the same functions as prepositions in English. The different name is caused by the fact that morphemes called postpositions usually follow the noun (or pronoun) in Georgian, while in those languages where they are called prepositions they precede the nouns, e. g.:

wigni magida-ze devs
c'igni magida-ze devs
The book is on the table.

Postpositions consisting of one syllable follow, and are written with their complements. The case marker may undergo reduction (or be omitted), e. g.:
 

manqana saxlTan gaCerda.
mankana saxltan gacherda.
The car stopped near the house.

gogona magidasTan dgas.
gogona magidastan dgas.
The girl is standing at the table.

Postpositions consisting of more than one syllable are pronounced and written separately from the word which they follow, and the case marker usually does not undergo reduction; e. g.:
 

saxlebs Soris didi baRia.
saxlebs shoris didi bagia.
There is a big garden between the houses.

Cemi saxli am saxlebs Soris yvelaze maRalia.
chemi saxli am saxlebs shoris q'valaze magalia.
My house is the highest among these houses.

Compare:
 

The table below shows the distribution of some postpositions in standard Georgian:
 

Reducible and clippable stems undergo corresponding changes when they are followed by postpositions beginning with the vowels -i or -a:
A clippable stem:

A reducible stem:

 When a posposition beginning with a vowel is preceded by a stem ending in the vowels -o or -u, the first vowel of the postposition is being ommited:

N o t e 1:

-gan gan may also be attached:

a) to the stem of cardinal numerals:

erT-gan ert-gan (in a certain place)
or-gan or-gan (in two places)

b) to the stem of indefinite numerals:

mraval-gan mraval-gan (in many places)
bevr-gan bevr-gan (in many places);

c) to the stem of the interrogative pronoun ramdeni (how many):

ramden-gan ramden-gan (in how many places)
 

N o t e 2:

Only the postposition -viT  -vit is attested in the nominative case:

The postposition -viT -vit ("like") usually governs its complement (the word to which it is attached) in the nominative case (also in the dative) if the stem of a complement ends in a consonant, and only in the dative if the stem of a complement ends in a vowel, e. g.:

Stem ending in a consonant:

kac-i-viT
k'ac-i-vit
man-Nom.-postposition (like)
 

kac-sa-viT
k'ac-sa-vit
man-Dat-postposition (like)

Stem ending in a vowel:

mze-sa-viT
mze-sa-vit
Sun-Dat.-Postposition (like)

Like the Sun.

Emphatic vowel-a
The emphatic vowel-a -a is obligatory before the postposition -viT -vit: mze-s-a-viT mze-s-a-vit "like the Sun (but, it is forbidden, for example, before the postposition -Tan -tan ("at, close") (mze-s-Tan mze-s-tan "near the Sun"), while before the postpositions -Tvis -tvis ("for"), -ken -k'en (to), -gan -gan (from) etc. parallel variants are usually used: mz-is-Tvis // mz-is-a-Tvis mz-is-tvis // mz-is-a-tvis "for the Sun").

Postpositions in dialects

Postpositions may have different phonetic variants in different dialects, e. g.: the postposition -tvis has the variants: -tvi, tvin, tun...  the postposition -mde has the variants: mdis, mdin, mdisin etc.
The compound postpositions are evidenced in the mountain dialects of Georgian:
 

The affix -a-a preceded by the postposition -Tan -tan may be either reduced adverbial case (-ad>-a) or the part of the postposition-Tan -tan ( <tana) in such forms.

These forms are considered to be the result of the influence of Nakh languages.

Sequences of the case markers and the postpositions in these forms may be represented as the table where in every row everything except the last postposition and the last case marker from the right might be considered as a stem; e. g., in the row 3 the stem is jarSi and in the row 5 the stem is jarSiiT:
 

According to another point of view all these forms are analysed as non-declined words or adverbs.
 

Postpositions in Old Georgian

Some postpositions that are monosyllabic in Modern Georgian consisted of two syllables in Old Georgian and were written separately, e.g.:
 
 

Some postpositions that were affixed to more than one case in Old Georgian, are affixed only to one case in Modern Georgian, e. g.: the postposition zeda zeda (on; during) is evidenced both in the dative and in the genitive cases in Old Georgian, but is attached to a bare stem in Modern Georgian; the postposition gamo gamo was used in the genitive and the instrumental in Old Georgian (it expressed the function of ablative with the instrumental case) but is attested only in the genitive in Modern Georgian.

The postposition garda garda (besides; except) is used in Modern Georgian instead of the Tuinier twinier evidenced in Old Georgian.

Prepositions are also attested in Old Georgian translated works but they occur very seldom and are explained by the influence of the Greek or other languages of the original texts.

History of some changes of case markers and postpositions in Georgian
The Dative case marker-s-s is omitted before the postpositions-ze-ze (on) and -Si-shi (in) after any stem.
The Dative case marker-s-s is omitted before the postposition -Tan -tan (at, by) after the stems ending in consonants:
 
 

The postposition -idan/-dan is formed in result of merging the instrumental case marker -it and the postposition -gan -gan (from):

In the adverbial case, when the postposition -mde -mde (till, until) is added, the consonantal part of the case marker -ad (//-d) -ad (//-d) is omitted:
 

Phonetic changes occurring in the dative, instrumental and adverbial cases have given a basis to the proposal to add three new cases to the system of declension in Georgian: sadaobiTi (dative + postposition -ze -ze /"on"/, dative + postposition -Si -shi /"in"/) ("Where Case" or "Case of Place"), gamosvliTi (Instrumental + postposition -gan -gan /"from"/) ("From where Case" or Ablative) and miwevniTi (Adverbial + postposition -mde /"till, to"/) ("Case of Reach") (a. SaniZe, qarTuli enis gramatikis safuZvlebi, Txzulebani 12 tomad, t. III, Tbilisi, 1980):
 

This opinion has not been shared by other linguists (a. Ciqobava, Tandebulian brunvaTa sakiTxisaTvis qarTulSi, saxelis brunebis istoriisaTvis qarTvelur enebSi, I, Tbilisi, 1956) . In our course, we consider these morphemes as postpositions attached to bare stems.
 

The first and the second person pronouns with the postpositions

The first person pronoun me me (I) in the dative case without postpositions usually is represented without any changes (in the table bellow the verbs in the brackets are indicators of the case of the pronouns. More information: Declension of pronouns):
 

When the postpositions -ze-ze(on), -Tan-tan (with, at, by) and -Si -shi (in) are added, another stem Cem- chem- appears. In front of the postposition -viT-vit (like) the dative case-marker and the emphatic vowel -a are also represented (as in declension of nouns):

The same stem Cem- chem- forms the possessive pronoun Cem-i chem-i (my).
The pronouns Sen shen (you), Cven chven (we), Tqven tkven (you all) do not change the stem when postpositions are attached. 

The pronouns me me(I) and Sen shen (you) with the postpositions:
 

© Manana Kock Kobaidze & Karina Vamling