Reading Rustaveli: shairi inversions, the old -ta plural, archaic optatives, and the most-quoted aphorisms.
I can recognize and respond to Rustaveli quotations in modern Georgian discourse.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
რაცა ვის რა ბედმან მისცეს, დასჯერდეს და მას უბნობდეს.
Whatever fate has given to each, let him be content and speak of that.
ლეკვი ლომისა სწორია, ძუ იყოს, თუნდა ხვადია.
A lion's cub is equal whether it be female or male.
მოყვარეს პირში უძრახე, მტერს პირს უკანა.
Reproach a friend to his face, an enemy behind his back.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Rustaveli's 12th-century epic lives in daily speech: Georgians quote its aphorisms the way English speakers quote Shakespeare. Reading it needs three keys: shairi-meter inversions, the old plural -თა (ვარდთა of roses), and archaic optatives (დასჯერდეს). Learn the twenty most-quoted lines - they unlock toasts, titles, and headlines.
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesReading -ta plurals as datives and missing when a modern speaker has slipped into quotation.
Missing quoted aphorisms in modern speech or misparsing shairi inversions
Aphorism-bank drills: the twenty most-quoted lines with modern paraphrases.
რაცა ვის რა ბედმან მისცეს, დასჯერდეს და მას უბნობდეს.
Whatever fate has given to each, let him be content and speak of that.
A Rustaveli aphorism Georgians quote weekly: archaic optatives dasjerdes, ubnobdes.
ლეკვი ლომისა სწორია, ძუ იყოს, თუნდა ხვადია.
A lion's cub is equal whether it be female or male.
Rustaveli's famous equality line - genitive lomisa postposed, optative iqos: 12th-century feminism in shairi meter.
მოყვარეს პირში უძრახე, მტერს პირს უკანა.
Reproach a friend to his face, an enemy behind his back.
Aphorisms preserve the old imperative udzrakhe and bare postposition p'irs uk'ana.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises