The fixed grammar of proverbs: archaic ara negation, masdar parallelism, universalizing -ts, and quotative tags.
I can read, quote, and aptly deploy Georgian proverbs with their fixed grammar intact.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
ენას ძვალი არა აქვს.
The tongue has no bone (words come easy).
თქმა ადვილია, ქმნა ძნელია.
Saying is easy, doing is hard.
ჩემი ლაპარაკი მიწამ გაიგონა - კედელსაც ყურები აქვს.
The earth heard my talk - even walls have ears.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Georgian proverbs preserve grammar the standard left behind: archaic არა negation (ენას ძვალი არა აქვს), masdar parallelism (თქმა ადვილია, ქმნა ძნელია), the universalizing -ც, and the quotative -ო in proverb tags (...დავითაო). Deploying the right proverb at the right supra moment is the highest C2 art.
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesRepairing proverb grammar to modern standard (it breaks the rhythm and the magic) and translating L1 proverbs word-for-word.
Modernizing fixed proverb grammar or literal-translating L1 proverbs
Proverb-bank drills: form, meaning, and the situation each one fits.
ენას ძვალი არა აქვს.
The tongue has no bone (words come easy).
Archaic negation ara akvs (not ar akvs) - proverbs preserve the older word order.
თქმა ადვილია, ქმნა ძნელია.
Saying is easy, doing is hard.
Masdar parallelism tkma/kmna: proverb architecture at its purest - two masdars, two copulas, one truth.
ჩემი ლაპარაკი მიწამ გაიგონა - კედელსაც ყურები აქვს.
The earth heard my talk - even walls have ears.
-ts (also) on kedelsats: the proverb particle that universalizes a warning.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises