Prepositional Pronouns. Irregular Verbs: "come" and "go". The Verbal Noun.
by Myles Dillon
T LESSON XIII You have learned the pronouns in Lesson VII. Where in English a preposition is followed by a pronoun e.g. "on me, from you, to him, her, them" etc., in Irish preposition and pronoun are joined together as one word: "on me" is not ar me but orm; "from you" is not 6 tu but uait; "to him" is do, "to her" di, and so on. Here are the forms for the six prepositions ag, ar, do, de, le, 6: ag at ar on do to Sg. l agam(a-gum) orm dom 2 agat(a-gut) ort duit 3 aige, aici (i-ge, i-ki) air, uirthi do, 1 di PL l againn (a-ging) orainn duinn 2 agaibh (a-giv) oraibh daoibh 2 3 acu(a-ku) orthu doibh de "from" le "with" 6 "from" Sg. l diom Horn uaim 2 diot leat uait 3 de, di leis, lei uaidh, uaithi PL l dinn linn uainn 2 dibh libh uaibh 3 diobh leo uathu We have seen that the verbs td and is (copula) are irregular, and that they have separate dependent forms. There are ten other irregular verbs, most of which also have dependent forms. The dependent form is used after ni 1 do short in Munster. 2 The d is pronounced as slender. 77 78 IRISH "not", nd (negative interrogative or dependent negative "is not?" or "that not"), an (interrogative), go "that", cd? "where?", dd "if, mara "unless" (Lesson XVI), sara "before", dependent relative (Lesson XXVI), and relative a meaning "all that" (p. 152). The verbs for "to come" and "to go" are irregular (cf. Eng. "go": "went") but have no dependent forms: Present Imperfect Past tagaim "I come" dothagainn dothanag teim "I go" do theinn do chuas 1 Future Conditional Participle Verbal Noun tiocfad dothiocfainn tagtha teacht raghad doraghainn dulta dul The 2 sg. of do raghainn is do raghfa (rayfaa), but the / is omitted in the other persons. Only the past tense of these two verbs needs to be given in full. The singular of do thdnag is quite irregular, and the 3 sg. of do chuas should be noted. Sg. 1 do thanag "I came" do chuas "I went" 2 do thanais do chuais 3 do thainigse do chuaighse PL 1 do thanamair do chuamair Go eclipses the initial of tdnag: go dtdinig se that he came. The English present participle is rendered into Irish by ag and a verbal noun: td an bhean ag deanamh creasa "the woman is making a belt" (p. 44). For the question "what is she doing?", the preposition do takes the place of ag, and in this position it is pronounced (and usually written) a: cad 1 In Northern Irish there is a dependent form of this paradigm: ni dheachas, ni dheachais, ni dheachaigh se etc. It may sometimes be heard as ni dheaghas (yayas) etc., in Munster speech. 3 2 LESSON XIII 79 td si a dheanamh? "what is she doing?" So too, an crios a bhi si a dheanamh "the belt she was making." For another construction, normal in West Cork, see p. no n. 2. The verbal noun is commonly used as a sort of infinitive, like the word "come" in English "it is difficult to come" is deacair teacht, "he cannot come" nifeidir leis teacht, "I asked him to come" d'iarras air teacht. If the meaning is transitive, the order is object + do 1 + verbal noun: is deacair an doras do dhunadh "it is difficult to shut the door", nifeidir leis an doras do dhunadh "he cannot shut the door", d'iarras air an doras do dhunadh "I asked him, etc." An doras do dhunadh is a "bracketed construction", and may be subject or object of a verb, or be governed by a preposition (p. 115). The definite article may not be doubled in Irish unless a demonstrative follows: deireadh an sceil "the end of the story" (p. 37). When a definite noun in the genitive depends on another definite noun, the article is omitted before the first noun: leabhar Sheamais "James's book"; capall m'athar "my father's horse"; but an leabhar san Sheamais "that book of James's"; an obair seo na Gaeilge "this Irish lan- guage work". (If the first noun is indefinite you must use either of the prepositions do or le: mac do Shedn "a son of John's", leabhar le Seamas "a book of James's".) VOCABULARY abhar tine fuel anam (onam) m. soul, life; Easter Sunday caoireoil (kee-rol) f. mutton Cill Dara (keel dora) Kildare clai (klee) m. fence cleasai (kla-see) m. trickster cnamh (knaav) m. bone cosnaionn se it costs dath (doh) m. colour Domhnach Casca (on) i ndeireadh an anama exhausted blath (blaah) m. flower boladh (bolahi) m. smell buachaill (booachil) m. boy buailte (booalhi) threshed Caisc (kaashk) f. Easter; 1 Pronounced a (a), and often so written. 8o IRISH deir (der) says deireadh (deri) m. end drom (droum) m. back; ar shlait a dhroma on the flat of his back falla (fola) m. wall fearr (faar) better feirmeoir (feri-myor) m. far- mer feoil (fyol) f. meat feochta (fyochda) withered foghlaim (foulim) f. learning, to learn greasai (greea-see) m. cobbler iarraim (eearim) ar / ask, 1 request of i gcoir (c. gen.) for i mbliana (i-mleeana) this year i n-airde (a-naardi) up, above iomad (umad) ; an iomad too much la day, pi. laetheanta (lahanta) leabaidh (labig) f. bed lochta (lochda) m. loft ma if with the copula mas Magh Chromtha (ma- mairteoil (mar-tyol) f. beef mar as, for meas (mas) m. regard, esteem moin (mon) f. turf, peat moran (mooa-raan) much, many (c. gen.) muiceoil (mwi-kyol) f. pork naire (naari) f. shame 6 since pian (peean) m. pain ras (raas) m. race rothar (rohar) m. bicycle scealaiocht (shgeea-leeacht) f. storytelling siuineir (shoo-ner) m. joiner, carpenter suipear (sa-per) m. supper taitneann Horn (tanghyan lum) I like tabhair (toor) ipv. give!; tabhair dhom (trom) give (to) me! tinneas (tengas) m. pain, soreness titim vn. falling, to fall tog take! uaigneas (ooaginas) m. loneli- ness ualach (ooalach) m. load chroumha) Macroom cad ta ort? (kod taa ort) what is wrong with you? cad ta uait? (ooet) what do you want? i n-eineacht (le) (i nenacht) together, along (with) is fearr Horn / prefer is mian leis he wishes see Lesson XVII nil a fhios agam I do not know 1 Note that iarraim ar means to request and fiafraim de means to ask a question. LESSON XIII 81 Exercise 31 A. 1. Tog diom an mala so agus cuir i n-airde ar an lochta e. 2. Ta uaigneas orthu 1 6 imigh Maire uathu. 3. D'fhiafraigh an garda dhinn cad a bhi uainn. 2 4. Fanfad leat mas maith leat. 5. Do thaispeain Sean dom an rothar nua ata aige. 6. Do chuamair go Cill Airne inne agus nior thanamair abhaile go dti maidin inniu. 7. Fiafrod de cad ta se a dheanamh. 8. Rogaire mor is ea Mairtin. 9. Nil ann ach cleasai 3 agus ta an iomad measa aige air fein. 10. Neosad sceal duit mar gheall air. 11. D'iarr se orainn teacht anso inniu, ach nior man se linn. 12. Do chuaigh se amach ag iascaireacht go moch ar maidin agus nior thainig se thar n-ais fos. (Third and fourth declensions) B. 1. Ta na blathanna san feochta. 2. Cuirfead isteach sa tine iad. 3. An dtaitneann boladh na mona leat? 4. Tait- neann, ach is fearr an t-adhmad mar abhar tine. 5. Bhiodar i ndeireadh an anama tar eis an rais agus chuadar sa lea- baidh. 6. Tiocfaidh si abhaile i ndeireadh na bliana. 7. Do leim se an clai agus thit se ar shlait a dhroma. 8. An raibh tinneas air? 1 9. Ni raibh aon phian mor air, ach bhi naire air. 10. Tabhair dhom rothar an bhuachalla agus raghad go dti an Daingean. 11. Ta na cnamha ag na gadhair. 12. Bionn greasaithe agus tailliuiri go maith chun scealaiochta. Exercise 32 A. 1. Diarmaid came in this morning. 2. 1 asked him what he wanted, but he did not tell me. 3. He went to Macroom after dinner and he will not come back till tomorrow. 4. 1 do not know what he is doing there. 5. The boys went out fishing, and the rain came on them. 6. When they came home, they took off (them) their (say "the") wet clothes, and went to bed. 7. James was not with them, for he was cutting hay. 8. They will have good hay this year. 9. He will tell you the 1 For this use of ar "on", see p. 83. 2 For this use of 6 "from" see p. 83. 3 See p. 53 n. 1. 82 IRISH end of the story when you go to the house. 10. We asked them to go to Dingle with the butter. 11. They were not able to sell it here in the village. 12. It is hard to make money these days. B. 1. We bought a load of turf from the boatman. 2. I like the smell of the turf. 3. Turf is good as fuel. 4. We prefer (the) wood. 5. What does a pound of mutton cost? 6. It is very dear now; it is as dear as beef. 7. That boy is a farmer's son, and he wishes to be a teacher. 8. He is good at learning. 9. The soldiers will go to Kildare on Easter Sunday, and they will come back at the end of the year. 10. The belt she is making has many colours. 1 11. Is that the carpenter's house over there near the chapel? 12. No, that is the young doctor's house. 13. I was talking to the tailor's son, and he says his father will be staying in Killarney till the end of the week. 14. We shall go to Tom's house for supper, and come back before the fall of night, and Tom will come along with us. 1 Say "there are many colours on". .