Appendix:Old Georgian nouns

Old Georgian nouns express people, things, phenomena, qualities and etc. Their main form is, just like in most languages, nominative singular unless the word is expressed in plural only.

Number
Old Georgian has two numbers: singular and plural, however some say, that it also had dual, though that is not attested in Old Georgian texts.

Old Georgian, just like the modern one, had two types of plural: "Common Plural," which was the plural form used most commonly, and "Uncommon Plural," which was a newer form of plural not attested as much.

Common plural's marker was, which changed into in all cases, where it became indeclinable, except in vocative, where it took the normal vocative case marker. Its marker was added to the primary root of a noun, compare table below.

Uncommon plural's marker was, which declined normally as shown in the table below on cases. Its marker was added to the primary or the secondary root, compare table below.

Cases
In Old Georgian, there were nine grammatical cases: predicative, nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, directional or allative, instrumental, adverbial, vocative. However, some sources do not include directional as one of them. Generally, if a case marker beginning with is added to a word, that doesn't undergo vowel truncation, it will reduce into. The total image looks like this: However, this table does not include proper noun endings, which are different for some cases.

Let's see the uses for these cases.

Predicative
The predicative case is thought to be a remnant of the absolutive case, until nominative started becoming more and more common. The case is used:

1. to define predicative expression after the verbs and  and their forms:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me... || და ვიყო მე თქუენდა მამა და თქუენ იყვნეთ ჩემდა ძეებ და ასულებ... ||
 * ...she became a pillar of salt. || ...იქმნა იგი ძეგლ მარილისა. ||
 * }
 * ...she became a pillar of salt. || ...იქმნა იგი ძეგლ მარილისა. ||
 * }

2. instead of nominative to sometimes denote the subject or the object of a sentence, mostly with a numeral:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * ...and comes one Samarian woman to draw water... || ...მოვალს დედაკაც ერთ სამარიაჲთ ვსებად წყლისა... ||
 * ...My house will be called a house of prayer... || ...სახლსა ჩემსა სახლ სალოცველ ეწოდოს... ||
 * ...and so I too ask you a question... || ...გკითხო მეცა თქუენ სიტყუა ერთ... ||
 * }
 * ...and so I too ask you a question... || ...გკითხო მეცა თქუენ სიტყუა ერთ... ||
 * }
 * }

3. to denote time adverb using the construction numeral + time word:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * for fifteen days || ათხუთმეტ დღე ||
 * for the whole day || დღე ყოველ ||
 * for five months || ხუთ თთუე ||
 * }
 * for five months || ხუთ თთუე ||
 * }
 * }

Nominative
The nominative case is a standard case for any language. It is one of the verbal cases, used when agreeing a subject or an object to the verb. It's used:

1. to denote the subject of an intransitive verb in all series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * Boy goes || ყრმაჲ წარვალს ||
 * Boy went || ყრმაჲ წარვიდა ||
 * Boy has gone || ყრმაჲ წარსრულ არს ||
 * }
 * Boy has gone || ყრმაჲ წარსრულ არს ||
 * }
 * }

2. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the first series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * The wolf eats the sheep || მგელი შეშჭამს ცხოვარსა ||
 * }
 * }

3. to denote the direct object in the second and the third series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * The wolf ate the sheep || მგელმან შეჭამა ცხოვარი ||
 * The wolf has eaten the sheep || მგელსა შეუჭამიეს ცხოვარი ||
 * }
 * The wolf has eaten the sheep || მგელსა შეუჭამიეს ცხოვარი ||
 * }

Ergative
The ergative case is one of the major cases for Ergative-Absolutive languages. In Georgian, it only has one function. It's used:

1. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the second series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * ...and said to him his mother... || ...და ჰრქუა მას დედამან მისმან... ||
 * }
 * }

Dative
The dative case is another major case used in many languages to denote the indirect object. Georgian is no exception to this, however it takes things one steps further. The case is used:

1. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the third series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * The artist has drawn a deer || მხატვარსა დაუხატავს ირემი ||
 * }
 * }

2. to denote the direct object of a verb in the first series:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * The artist draws a deer || მხატვარი დაჰხატავს ირემსა ||
 * }
 * }

3. to denote the indirect object of a verb in all series, except in the third, where indirect object disappears:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * He thinks/believes || ჰგონიეს მას ||
 * He asked his brother (about) the story/tale || ჰკითხა მან ძმასა ამბავი ||
 * }
 * He asked his brother (about) the story/tale || ჰკითხა მან ძმასა ამბავი ||
 * }

4. to denote the place/location of an action or state:
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * He came to Mtskheta and settled in Tbilisi || მოვიდა მცხეთას და დაემკჳდრა ტფილისს. ||
 * }
 * }