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How many cases and tenses does Georgian have, and is it hard?

Cases, verb forms and how Georgian differs from Russian.

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Short answer

Georgian has 7 cases, and verbs have about 11 series of tense and mood forms called mts'krivi (screeves). There is no grammatical gender and no capital letters, but a verb can mark both who acts and whom the action affects. That's why Georgian is considered hard, especially its verbs, though the alphabet and reading come quickly.

The Georgian alphabet faq-cover-georgian-language.png

Why

  1. The cases are nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, instrumental, adverbial and vocative.
  2. The ergative marks the subject of some verbs in the past tense, which Russian doesn't have.
  3. Georgian is written as it's spoken, so reading new words is easy.

Details

Start with the alphabet and ready-made phrases, and learn the grammar gradually. Simple structures are enough for everyday talk, and locals are happy to help and correct you.

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