Modals Across the Series: Must Have Left
The complete modal system: obligation, past obligation, and the inferential ts'asuli unda iqos pattern, plus sheidzleba's parallel track.
I can express duties, missed duties, and confident deductions about the past.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
ნინო უკვე წასული უნდა იყოს - შუქი აღარ ანთია.
Nino must have already left - the light is no longer on.
მაშინ ვერ შეიძლებოდა ამის თქმა - სხვა დრო იყო.
Back then it was impossible to say that - it was a different time.
ეს ხაჭაპური ბებიას გამოცხობილი უნდა იყოს - გემოზე ვცნობ.
This khachapuri must have been baked by grandma - I can tell by the taste.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
From must-do to must-have-done
The modal system completes at C1: უნდა წავიდე (I must go), უნდა წავსულიყავი (I should have gone), and the inference pattern წასული უნდა იყოს (must have left - participle + unda + iqos). შეიძლება runs the parallel possibility track (შეიძლებოდა - was possible). Obligation and deduction share one little word; the verb's layer tells them apart.
unda + aorist for inference (*unda ts'avida) - deduction needs the participle pattern; and frozen sheidzleba in past contexts.
Common Error Patterns
Wrong layer for past-inference modals (unda ts'avida instead of ts'asuli unda iqos)
Inference-ladder drills: obligation vs deduction across the time frames.
ნინო უკვე წასული უნდა იყოს - შუქი აღარ ანთია.
Nino must have already left - the light is no longer on.
ts'asuli unda iqos 'must have left': participle + unda + iqos = inference about the past.
მაშინ ვერ შეიძლებოდა ამის თქმა - სხვა დრო იყო.
Back then it was impossible to say that - it was a different time.
sheidzleboda: the possibility modal in past form + masdar - history in a modal.
ეს ხაჭაპური ბებიას გამოცხობილი უნდა იყოს - გემოზე ვცნობ.
This khachapuri must have been baked by grandma - I can tell by the taste.
Participle + unda iqos with a genitive agent: inference meets the participial style.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises