The Copula
by Myles Dillon
I n the simple sentences of Lesson I you have learned the verb ta which means "is" in such phrases as "the hat is on the table" or "the day is cold, the bag is empty," etc. But in sentences of definition or identity, you must use a different verb, namely is (rhymes with Eng. "hiss"), which is called the copula, because it merely joins two notions. 1 The forms are easy, as this verb has no persons or number and only two tenses, present is and past (and conditional) ba 2 ; but the syntax of these sentences is troublesome and requires careful study and practice. Definition is to say what a per- son or thing is: "it is a book, a horse, a hill", etc. A sentence of identity says who or which he, she or it is: "it is my book, his horse"; "he is John Smith". And these two types have slightly different constructions. You have seen that e, z, iad are the forms of the pronoun as object of a transitive verb. They are also the forms used as subject of the copula. (a) The sentence of definition is then is leabhar e "it is a book", is clock i "it is a stone", is fir iad "they are men" (verb-predicate-subject); or, with the demonstratives so, seo "this" and san, sin "that": 3 is leabhar e seo "this is a book", is clock z sin "that is a stone", is fir iad san "those are men". (b) In the sentence of identity the pronoun occurs twice, before and after the noun, unless the subject is the demon- strative. Suppose you want to say simply "it is the book" (not the paper or the pen), you must say is e an leabhar e; 1 For those who know Spanish, the distinction between ser and estar will be helpful. 2 See p. 16. 3 So and san after a broad consonant or vowel, seo and sin after a slender. These are here fully stressed, not enclitic as on p. 49. 52 LESSON VIII 53 "they are the boys" is iad na garsuin iad; "it is John" is e Sean e. But the demonstrative is not repeated after a definite noun: is e sin an leabhar "that is the book", is iad so na garsuin "these are the boys", is e sin Sean "that is John". If both the subject and predicate are definite nouns, e.g. "Tom is the old man", "John is my son", "the big book is the prize", then the order is: is e Tomds an sean-duine; is e Sean mo mhac; is e an leabhar mor an duais. The notion to be emphasised precedes, but a definite noun may not follow the copula directly. (c) The first type, however, has a common alternative form with the old neuter pronoun ea:fear iseae "it is a man"; bo mhaith dob ea i sin "that was a good cow". 1 The past in this position is dob (the particle do and b'). And the type is e sin an fear has an alternative form sin e an fear, which is that commonly used. These four types should be memorised: is fear e or fear is ea e "it is a man" is e an fear e "it is the man" is e sin an fear or sin e an fear "that is the man" is e Sean mo mhac "John is my son" (d) In such a sentence as "good advice is a great help", the normal construction is permissible: is cunamh mor comhairle mhaith; but when there is emphasis on the predicate, the common usage is to make the adjective predicative and the noun definite, so that the logical subject appears in apposi- tion: is mor an cunamh comhairle mhaith. Thus the common form is: is maith an rud e "it is a good thing", rather than rud maith is ea e. This form gives greater emphasis than (c). 1 This form does not occur in Northern Irish, but ta with the pre- position i n- maybe used instead: (is) buachaill maith atd arm "he is a good boy", (is) bo mhaith do bhi inti "she was a good cow". This latter idiom appears in Southern Irish only in the negative form: nil arm ach cleasai "he is only a trickster", nil arm ach leath-sceal "it is only an excuse" (see p. 83). c 54 IRISH Learn the following three sentences by heart: is bred an Id e "it is a fine day" is mor an trua e "it is a great pity" is laidir nufir iad "they are strong men". For emphasis a noun-subject may here be preceded by a pronoun: is maith an muinteoir e Seamas "James is a good teacher". These constructions do not occur in the future tense or in the imperfect; but they do occur in the past and conditional: ba bhred an la e "it was a fine day", ba mhaith an rud e "it would be a good thing". In order to illustrate the contrast between is and td, examples of both will be given in the exercises. The negative of is is m, which prefixes h to vowels; the interrogative is an; the negative interrogative is nach; dependent gur; dependent negative nach. The copula itself disappears after the particles. The negative of ba is nior (niorbh before vowels and aspi- rated/); the interrogative is ar; the negative interrogative is ndr (ndrbh before vowels); dependent gur (gurbh before vowels); dependent negative ndr (ndrbh before vowels). nifear e niorbh fhear e it is not a man it was not (would not be) a man, an fear e arbh fhear e is it a man? was it a man? nach fear e ndrbh fhear e is it not a man? was it not a man? gur fear e gurbh fhear e that it is a man that it was a man nach fear e ndrbh fhear e that it is not a man that it was not a man And for identity (i.e. with a definite noun): ni he an fear e, an e an fear e? niorbh e an fear e, etc. Finally, in answering a question, the forms for "yes" and "no" are is ea and ni hea for definition, and is e (i) and ni he LESSON VIII 55 (hi) for identity: an fear e sin? is ea ('sea) Is that a man? Yes. an e sin t'athair? is e ('se) Is that your father? Yes. VOCABULARY ais (ash): lena ais beside him long (loong) f. ship am (aum) m. time amuigh (a-mu) outside aon one, any ard (aard) tall, high captaen (kop-tan) m. captain ce acu (kyuka)? which? cluiche (klihi) m. game chomh (cho) as; chomh laidir le as strong as comhairle (korli) f . advice cruithneacht (krin-hacht) f. wheat Meiriceanach (meri-kaanach) American moin (mon) f. turf muinteoir (moon-tor) m. teacher 1. na, that not (takes depend- ent form of irregular verbs) 2. na nor no (noo) or obair (obir) f. work; g. oibre portach (par-toch) m. bog saibhir (sevir) rich dochtuir (doch-dodr) m. doctor scolaire (sga-laari) m. scholar, eachtach (eeachdach) very good, wonderful eoma (orna) f. barley follain (fa-laan) healthy Gaeilge (galing) f the Irish language Gearmanach (gyara-maan- ach) German go (gu) conj. that, eel. (takes dependent form of ir- regular verbs) go luath (looah) soon, early iascaire (eeasgiri) m. fisher- man Exercise 20 1. Is leabhar e sin. 2. Is speal i seo. 3. Is bad i siud. 4. An i sin do chasog? 5. Ni hi, is i casog Sheain i. 6. An e 1 seo do 1 The pronoun here is in fact neuter, as it does not agree in gender with cuid (f.). school-boy Seamas (sheeamas) James seol (shol) m. sail; bad seoil sail-boat Sile (sheeli) Sheila siud (shood) yonder slan safe teannta (tyounta): ina tean- nta with her tigh (tig) m. house; tigh osta hotel trua (trooa) f. pity 56 IRISH chuid airgid-se? Is e. 7. Leabhar Gaeilge is ea e seo. 8. Is raise an muinteoir agus is sibh-se na scolairi. 9. An iad san na Meiriceanaigh? Ni hiad. 10. Is iad na Sasanaigh iad. 11. Sin e an captaen. 12. An e an fear mor ard an captaen? 13. Ni he, ach an fear beag lena ais. 14. Is i seo mo mhathair ag teacht isteach anois, agus sin i Maire ina teannta. 15. Ta Sean laidir ach nil se chomh laidir le Seamas. 16. An e Seamas an dochtuir? 17. Is e, agus dochtuir maith is ea e. 18. Ca bhfuil Sean? 19. Ta se amuigh sa ghairdin ag obair. 20. Is eachtach an fear e chun oibre. 21. Do bhi se breoite, ach ta se slan follain 1 anois. 22. Ce acu eorna no coirce e sin? 23. Cruithneacht is ea i sin agus coirce is ea e seo, ach nil aon eorna sa ghort. 24. Ba mhor an trua na rabhamair ann i n-am. Exercise 21 1. It is a very big house. 2. That is a table and this is a chair. 3. Is that a boat or a ship? 2 4. It is a sail-boat. 3 5. Those are my shoes. 6. He is a teacher. 7. Is this your turf? 8. No, mine (say "my share") is still in the bog. 9. Is that wheat or barley? 2 10. It is neither wheat nor barley but oats. 11. This is a clean knife. 12. Are those Englishmen? 13. Yes, they are the fishermen who are (ata) in the hotel. 14. These are the Germans. 15. The tall men 4 are the Americans. 16. The Ger- mans are wonderful men for work. 17. Where is Sheila? 18. She is (within) in the house washing the dishes. 19. She will soon be ready. 20. James is a big boy, but he is not as tall as Sheila. 21. It is a great pity that she is so tall. 22. John is a teacher and James is the doctor. 23. Is John a good teacher? Yes. 24. Is not that tall man yonder the cap- tain of the boat? 25. No, the captain is the dark little man beside him. 26. Is this a good game? No. 1 Note that agus is not used between two adjectives. 2 Ce acu "which (of them)" usually takes the place of an in these questions. 3 bad though m. takes a fern, pronoun. 4 See p. 58. .