Declension of Nouns. The Second Conjugation.
by Myles Dillon
T LESSON XI You have learned the declension of the two largest classes of nouns, the first and second declensions, and we have had some nouns ending in vowels (with pi. in -z of the fourth declension. The student should now learn by heart the third, fourth and fifth declensions. There is not very much to be learned, only one form (in -a) and the various weak plurals for the third, and only the two plural endings for the fourth; the fifth declension may be regarded as a collection of irregular nouns, but it has a common pattern. The "weak" plurals are the only trouble, and they will come with practice. In the spoken language there is some fluctuation, so that even if you use -acha where -anna is normal, it is not disastrous. These declensions are given on pages 193-196, with lists of nouns. The second conjugation of verbs differs from the first only in the future stem, which ends in (e)6- instead of the -J{e)a- of the first. Two classes of verbs have this future in -6-: (a) verbs in -im, and (b) syncopated verbs (with stems of more than one syllable, ending in -z7, -in, -if). 1 The first class changes the -z- of the stem (formerly written -ighi-) to -6-; the second adds -6- to the stem and syncopates the preceding vowel. Thus (a) zmzm "I go away" fut. imeod; ceannaim "I buy" fat. ceannod; diultaim "I refuse" fut. diultod; (b) osclaim "I open" (stem oscail-), fat. osclod; fograim "I announce" (stem fog air-), fut. fogrod. The verbal noun of class (a) is usually formed by changing the -z to -u: 1 For syncope see p. 12. Insim "I tell" (stem innis-) has an irregular future neosad. Verb of class (b) tend to adopt the long i of class (a) so that osclaim. d'osclaios, seachnaim, do sheachnaios are the normal forms in Munster of osclaim "I open", seachnaim "I avoid". 66 LESSON XI 67 diultu. The verbal noun of class (b) is formed by adding -t: oscailt,fogairt. The verbal noun of imim is imeacht, and of ceannaim ceannach (see further p. 114). Only the future and conditional need now be learned. The fall paradigm is given in the Appendix, p. 199. (a) imim "I go away" Future Conditional Se.i imeod d'imeoinn 2 imeoir d'imeofa 3 Imeoidh se d'imeodh se P1.1 imeoimid d'imeoimis 2 imeoidh sibh d'imeodh sibh 3 imeoid d'imeoidis (b) osclaim "I open" Future Conditional Sg.i osclod d'oscloinn 2 oscloir d'osclofa 3 oscloidh se d'osclodh se P1.1 oscloimid d'oscloimis 2 oscloidh sibh d'osclodh sibh 3 oscloid d'oscloidis Note that all these forms have the stress on the second syllable. The possessives of the 1st and 2nd sg., mo and do, are joined to the prepositions do "to", i "in, into", le "with" and 6 "from", and drop the -o: dom (asp.) "to my"; dod 1 (asp.) "to your"; im (asp.) "in my", id 2 (asp.) "in your (sg.)"; lem (asp.) "with my", and so on. VOCABULARY abair (obir) say! sing! amhran (ova-raan) m. song ach (och) but, except aon (an) any 1 Or dot, see p. 49. 2 Or it, see p. 49. 68 IRISH aonach (anach) m.fair bailim (ba-leem) / collect carta! (kaar-tee) cards ceannaim (kya-neem) I buy ceoltoir (kyol-hor) m. musician criochnami (kreech-neem) / finish deatach (di-toch) m. smoke do (do) to him duine (dini) m. person', pi. daoine (deeni) eirim (ay-reem) / rise; eirim as / cease from, give up fiafraim (feear-heem) de / enquire of ask gan mhoill (gon-vweel) with- out delay, soon go moch (ga-much) early gortaim (gor-teem) / hurt iascaireacht (eeasgiracht) f. fishing im (eem) m. butter irrrim (i-meem) / go away; imionn se leis, he goes off, sets out imrim (imi-reemj / play insint (eenshint) telling, to tell iompaim (oom-peem) I turn margadh (moraga) m. market oiche (eehi) f. night; pi. oicheanta osclaim (osgalim) / open; d'oscail se he opened sara (sora) conj. before scealta (shgeealha) stories seachtain (shachdin) f. week siul (shool) walking, to walk tairgim (tarigim). / offer, fut. tairiceod (irreg.) tosnaim (tos-neem) / begin uair (ooir) f. hour, a time; uair sa tseachtain, once a week; uaireanta sometimes Exercise 26 A. Tosnoid. Do dhiultoinn. Neosaimid. Do cheannoidis. Criochnoir. Do thosnaiodar. 1 Eirimid. Do dhiultodh se. D'iompaiodar. Do cheannaigh 2 se. B. 1. Criochnod an obair amaireach. 2. D'fhiafraigh 2 si da hathair cad a bhi ar siul. 3. Nior eirigh 2 Tomas fos ach eireoidh se gan mhoill. 4. Imid leo abhaile tar eis na scoile. 5. Ceannaionn 3 mo mhathair an t-im uair sa tseachtain. 1 In the new spelling -odar after L The old spelling is do thosnaigh- eadar. 2 Verbs in -im, originally -ighim, retain the final -gh in the 3 sg. past and in the 2 sg. imperative. It is pronounced g except before pronouns. 3 In the new spelling -onn after i. The old spelling is ceannaigheann. LESSON XI 69 6. Nuair a bhead ag caint le Tadhg tairiceod deich bpuint do ar an ngamhain. 7. Bainfead an scian san den phaiste no gortoidh se e fein. 8. Abair amhran, a Thomais, agus ansan imeoimid abhaile. 9. Do thosnaigh na hiascairi ag iascair- eacht go moch ar maidin. 10. Tosnoimid-ne amaireach le cunamh De. 11. Do bhailiomair an t-airgead sarar imigh na daoine. 12. Bionn aonach sa bhaile mhor uair sa mhi agus margadh uair sa tseachtain. 13. Blianta 6 shin do chaitheadh na daoine oicheanta geimhridh ag insint scealta, ach d'eiriodar 1 as an nos san. 14. Osclod an fhuinneog agus imeoidh an deatach so. 15. D'fhiafraiodar cathain a thosnodh an ceol. 16. Tosnoidh se nuair a bheimid ullamh. Exercise 27 A. 1. We begin. 2. They will finish. 3. He did not refuse. 4. Did you tell? 5. They bought. 6. We would buy. 7. Would they turn? 8. Did they begin? 9. He would not tell. 10. You will hurt. B. 1. I shall buy the books tomorrow. 2. We shall get up early and finish the work. 3. 1 shall ask my mother who will be coming. 4. They turned the hay yesterday, and they will turn it again today. 5. The music will begin when the musicians are ready. 6. We shall collect the money before we let (fat.) the people in. 7. He opened the book and (he) began to read. 8. When the nights are (habit.) long people play cards. 9. They will not play (any) cards tonight. 1 In the new spelling -odor after i. The old spelling is d'eirigheadar. .