Relative Clauses: romelits, romelmats, romelsats
Relative pronoun romelits and its case forms (romelmats, romelsats), cased by the role inside the relative clause.
I can describe people and things with relative clauses, casing romelits correctly.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
ეს ის რესტორანია, რომელიც ნინომ გვირჩია.
This is the restaurant that Nino recommended to us.
მეზობელი, რომელმაც დაგვეხმარა, ექიმია.
The neighbor who helped us is a doctor.
წიგნი, რომელსაც ახლა ვკითხულობ, ძალიან საინტერესოა.
The book I am reading now is very interesting.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
The which-word declines
რომელიც (which/who) takes the case of its role INSIDE the relative clause: nominative რომელიც, ergative რომელმაც (transitive-aorist subject), dative რომელსაც (object). The head noun's case outside is irrelevant - read the small clause on its own and case the pronoun accordingly.
Freezing the pronoun as romelits everywhere and copying the head noun's case instead of the clause-internal role.
Common Error Patterns
Failing to case-mark romelits for its role inside the relative clause
Two-step drills: identify the pronoun's role in its clause, then pick romelits/romelmats/romelsats.
ეს ის რესტორანია, რომელიც ნინომ გვირჩია.
This is the restaurant that Nino recommended to us.
romelits in the nominative - it is the object of a verb whose subject is ergative.
მეზობელი, რომელმაც დაგვეხმარა, ექიმია.
The neighbor who helped us is a doctor.
Inside its clause the pronoun is a transitive-aorist subject, so it goes ergative: romelmats.
წიგნი, რომელსაც ახლა ვკითხულობ, ძალიან საინტერესოა.
The book I am reading now is very interesting.
As the object of vk'itkhulob it takes the dative: romelsats.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises