Past Modals: mindoda, shemedzlo, vitsodi
Past forms of the modal/feeling verbs: mindoda, shemedzlo, vitsodi, miqvarda - imperfect morphology, dative architecture intact.
I can talk about what I wanted, could, knew, and loved in the past.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
ბავშვობაში ექიმობა მინდოდა.
In childhood I wanted to be a doctor.
შარშან ქართულად ვერ ვლაპარაკობდი, ახლა კი შემიძლია!
Last year I couldn't speak Georgian, but now I can!
მაშინ არ ვიცოდი, რომ ხინკალს ხელით ჭამენ.
Back then I didn't know that khinkali is eaten by hand.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Wanted, could, knew
Feeling and modal verbs form their past with imperfect-style -ოდ- forms, never the aorist: მინდა → მინდოდა (wanted), შემიძლია → შემეძლო (could), ვიცი → ვიცოდი (knew), მიყვარს → მიყვარდა (loved). The dative-experiencer architecture survives the tense shift untouched.
Inventing aorist modals (*movinde, *shevedzeli) and switching the experiencer to nominative in the past.
Common Error Patterns
Aorist-style forms for past modals (*movinde) instead of the -oda imperfects
Then-vs-now drills: minda/mindoda, shemidzlia/shemedzlo arcs.
ბავშვობაში ექიმობა მინდოდა.
In childhood I wanted to be a doctor.
minda - mindoda: the dative experiencer stays, the tense shifts.
შარშან ქართულად ვერ ვლაპარაკობდი, ახლა კი შემიძლია!
Last year I couldn't speak Georgian, but now I can!
ver + imperfect for past inability; the present shemidzlia closes the arc.
მაშინ არ ვიცოდი, რომ ხინკალს ხელით ჭამენ.
Back then I didn't know that khinkali is eaten by hand.
vitsi - vitsodi: knowledge in the past takes the -odi imperfect.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises