On Teaching the Usage of Pospositions -ze and -ši to Non-native Georgian Speakers

Abstract

In many languages, postpositions correspond to prepositions (for example: "c’igni aris magida-ze" – "the book is on the table"; English: The book is on the table; French: Le livre est sur la table; Russian: книга на столе; Armenian: Գիրքը սեղանի վրա է. Or: me mivdi­var sk’ola-ši – English: I go to school; French: Je vais à l'école; Russian: Я иду в школу). However, in languages that have case forms, a postposition may correspond either to a postposition or to a specific case form (example: c’igni aris magidaze – Armenian: Գիրքը սեղանի վրա է; in this sentence, the postposition corresponds to a postposition, but in "me mivdivar sk’olaši" – "I am going to school", the postposition corresponds to a case form). Georgian has many postpositions, and consequently, they have many functions. At the same time, the same or similar function can be expressed by several different postpositions. For example, direction can be expressed by the postpositions -ze (mivdivar lekciaze – "I'm going to the lecture"), -ši ("mivdivar universit’et’ši" – "I'm going to the university”), -k’en ("mivdivar saxlisk’en" – "I'm going toward home"), -tan ("mivdivar amxanagtan / sk’olastan" – "I'm going to my friend's / to the school vicinity"), -mde ("mivdivar met’romde" – "I'm going as far as the metro"). There are nuanced differences among these postpositions. Most postpositions attach to forms of the dative case, and therefore the dative case in Georgian carries many such functions through these postpositions. The article discusses the cases of using the postpositions -ze (on) and -ši (in). Both postpositions are attached to the form of the dative case, and when attached, in the case of the both postpositions, no dative case sign is used: rveuli aris čantaši, salome aris saxlši, c’igni aris magidaze, pankari aris c’ignze. Both postpositions have almost the same functions with different nuances: the postposition -ze shows presence and departure (direction) to the process, while -ši shows location – being in a place and direction to a place: tamari aris gak’vetilze, tamari midis k’oncertze, tamari aris sp’ektak’lze, tamari midis teat’rši. The postposition -ze shows an exact time, the postposition -ši shows a period of time: pilmi xut saatze ic’q’eba, pilmi ert saatši daic’q’eba.Both postpositions are used in simple complements and idioms: deda pikrobs švilebze, deda avadmq’op švils tavze adgas, nino darc’munebulia mariamis simartleši, anas tavši erti da igive azri ut’rialebs. The postposition -ze is used in comparisons: nuca liaze maghalia, ati met’ia rvaze.