The Adjective. Irregular Verbs: "bear"; "give"; "do"; eat".
by Myles Dillon
ALESSON XXI We have seen (p. 58) that an attributive adjective follows the noun and agrees with it in gender, number and case. A predicative adjective is indeclinable (p. 27). There are four classes, or declensions, of adjectives, and they present no difficulty, once the declensions of nouns have been learned: 1. Adjectives ending in a broad consonant are declined like nouns of the first declension in the masculine singular, and like nouns of the second declension in the feminine singular. The nom-acc. and dative plural are formed by adding -a. 1 The gen. pi. is the same as the nom. sg. Masculine Singular N-A fear mor G fir mhoir D fear mor V a fhir mhoir Plural fir mhora fear mor fearaibh mora a fheara mora Singular N-A cloch mhor G cloiche moire D cloich mhoir V a chloch mhor Feminine Plural clocha mora cloch mor clochaibh mora a chlocha mora 2. Adjectives ending in a slender consonant (except those in -uil and coir "just", deacair "difficult", socair "quiet") are indeclinable in the singular, except for the genitive sg. fern, which is formed by adding -e. The nom-acc. and dat. pi. are 1 uasal "noble" makes the pi. in -e with syncope, uaisle. 118 LESSON XXI 119 the same as the gen. sg. fern. The gen. pi. is the same as the nom. sg. Masculine Singular N-A fear maith G fir mhaith D fear maith V a fhir mhaith Feminine Singular N-A cloch mhaith G cloiche maithe D cloich mhaith V a chloch mhaith Plural fir mhaithe fear maith fearaibh maithe a fheara maithe Plural clocha maithe cloch maith clochaibh maithe a chlocha maithe 3. Adjectives in -uil and coir, deacair, socair are indeclinable in the sg. except for the genitive sg. fern, which is formed by adding -a {-ula). The pi. form is the same as the gen. sg. fern. The ending -uil corresponds to the -ly of English "manly", and is added to nouns to form adjectives: fearuil "manly", laethuil "daily", trdthuil "timely", etc. N-A G D V fear flaithiuil "a generous man" Masculine Singular fear flaithiuil fir fhlaithiuil fear flaithiuil a fhir fhlaithiuil Plural fir fhlaithiula fear flaithiuil fearaibh flaithiula a fheara flaithiula bean fhlaithiuil "a generous woman" Feminine N-A G D V Singular bean fhlaithiuil mna flaithiula mnaoi fhlaithiuil a bhean fhlaithiuil Plural mna flaithiula ban flaithiuil mnaibh flaithiula a mhna flaithiula 120 IRISH 4. Adjectives ending in a vowel are indeclinable in singular and plural, except bred "fine", gsf. and pi. bredtha and te "hot", gsf. and pi. teo. There is no separate dual form of the adjective, and the plural is used: an dd choin mhora "the two big hounds". Where two adjectives are joined by "and" in English, the conjunction is omitted in Irish: td se mor Ididir "he is big and strong". You have learned (p. 30), that the prefix ana- means "very". English "too", as in "too good", "too young" is expressed by the. prefix ro- which aspirates: ro-mhaith, ro-6g; ro-fhada "too long"; ro-luath "too early", "too soon". The adjectives dea- "good", droch- "bad", occur only as prefixes 1 : dea-sceal "good news"; droch-chomhairle "bad advice". Note the prefixes so- "good" and do- "bad" which are used with a few participles, e.g. so-bhlasta "good to taste", so- thogtha "easy to rear (of cattle)"; do-Uonta "hard to fill", do-shdsta "hard to satisfy". Comparison of Adjectives There are three degrees of comparison as in English "long", "longer", "longest". But the form of the regular comparative and superlative is the same. In the first and second declensions -e is added, so that the form is the same as the gen. sg. f.: glan "clean", glaine; daingean "firm", daingne. Adjectives in -uil (third declension), and the words coir, deacair and socair form the comparative-superlative by adding -a: fearuil, fearula; coir, cora; deacair, deacra (with syncope). Most adjectives of the fourth declension are unchanged: cneasta "gentle", cneasta; dorcha "dark", dorcha; simpli "simple", simpli. Fada "long" and grdnna "ugly" change the final -a to -e:faide, grdinne. The difference between comparative and superlative is in the syntax. The comparative may be expressed with either 1 For sean(a)- "old" see p. 42. LESSON XXI 121 is or td, and the following phrases should be memorised (nd means "than"): is sine Sean na Seamas ta Sean nios sine na Seamas "John is older than James". When td is used, the particle nios precedes the compara- tive. This particle contains is, so if the verb "to be" is past or conditional, the particle is often changed to ni ba: bhi Sean ni ba shine nd Seamas. The superlative may be expressed only with is, and takes a relative clause (see Lesson XXVI): is e Sean an te is sine "John is the eldest" (or "the older") (lit. "it is John who is oldest"); an fear is sine "the oldest man" (lit. "the man who is oldest"); sin e isfearr leo "that is what they like best". 1 But is fearr leo e seo nd e siud "they like this better than that". The verb beirim "I bear" is irregular: Present Imperfect Past beirim do bheirinn do rugas Future Conditional Participle Verbal Noun bearfad dobhearfainn beirthe breith The verb bheirim "I give" is irregular, and has distinct absolute and dependent forms except in the past tense. Present Imperfect Past Abs. bheirim do bheirinn dothugas Dep. tugaim tugainn Future Conditional Participle Verbal Noun Abs. bhearfad dobhearfainn tugtha tabhairt Dep. tabharfad tabharfainn In conversation the dependent forms of this verb are commonly used for absolute. 1 Only the context decides whether the meaning is comparative or superlative in these phrases: an fear is sine, may be said of the older of two men; sin e isfearr leo may mean "that is what they prefer". But is sine Sean nd Seamas can only be comparative: "John is older than James". 122 IRISH The verbs deinim "I do", "I make" and ithim "I eat" are irregular only in the future and conditional: Future: deanfad "I shall do" iosfad "I shall eat" Conditional: do dheanfainn d'iosfainn Participle: deanta ite Verbal Noun: deanamh ithe VOCABULARY airim (a-reem) / hear amhras (auras) m. doubt arbhar (o-rodr) m. corn areir (a-rer) last night beagnach (byog-naach) almost binn (beeng) sweet (of music) boithrin (bor-heen) m. lane buan (booan) lasting, durable ca (kaa) where? car before a past tense caol (kal) narrow casur (ko-sodr) m. hammer ciste (keeshda.) m. cake citeal (kital) m. kettle compordach (koom-pordach) comfortable cosuil (ko-sodl) like daingean (dangan) firm daor (dar) dear (of price) dearg (darag) red deirfiur (dra-foor) f. sister dubh (duv) black, dark eadrom (eeadram) light (of weight) folamh (folav) empty fuar (fooar) cold gann (gaun) scarce garbh (gorav) rough, compar. gairbhe (go-ree) geal (gyal) bright, light (of colour) gealach (gya-loch) f. moon glas (glos) grey, green (of grass, etc.) goirt (girt) salty gorm (goram) blue gual (gooal) m. coal iasacht (eeasacht) f. loan; faighim ar iasacht / borrow i n-eagmais (i-neeamish) without iseal (eeshal) low leathan (lyahan) wide lom (loum) bare maol (mal) bald oiread (irad): oiread agus as much as; an oiread san that much ramhar (raur) fat rogha (rou) m. choice rua (rooa) red (of hair, animal fur, etc.) saor (sar) cheap seachtain (shachdin) f. week; an tseachtain seo chuinn next week uaine (ooini) green LESSON XXI 123 Exercise 48 1. Car airiodar na hamhrain bhreatha san? 2. Do bhi cailini 6ga agus seana-mhna ag obair i dteannta a cheile. 3. Do chonac na cupain bheaga san a cheannais inne, agus is deas na cupain iad gan amhras. 4. Ca bhfuil na cisti milse ud a thugais leat on siopa? 5. Do chuireas isteach insna boscai bana san thall iad. 6. Ta dha chapall dhubha thios ar an mbothar agus iad marbh ag an ocras beagnach. 7. Do bhi fir fhlaithiula riamh sa cheantar so, ach is deacair doibh bheith flaithiuil i n-eagmais an airgid. 8. Ta na cathaoireacha troma san ro-mhor don tseomra so agamsa. 9. Ta na hamhrain sin ana-bhinn, ach is breatha na sean- amhrain na iad. 10. Ta Liam nios cosula lena athair na Tomas. 11. Ta an clar san ro-leathan, agus is leithne fos an ceann eile. 12. An bhfeiceann tu an fear maol san agus an fear 6g rua lena ais? 13. Sin iad m'athair agus mac mo dheirfear. 14. Is glas iad na cnoic i bhfad uainn. 15. Is gile an ghrian na an ghealach. 16. Ta an bord san mor leathan ach ta an ceann iseal nios saoire na e. 17. Ce acu is fearr leat diobh? 18. Is e an ceann is daoire an ceann is buaine. 19. Is oige m'athair na t'athair-se, ach is e Diarmaid an fear is laidre acu go leir. 20. Is troime an gual na an mhoin. 21. Bhi an oiche areir ni ba dhorcha na an oiche anocht. 22. Ta an boithrin nios caoile agus nios gairbhe na an bothar mor. 23. Bhi se mar ar maidin ach ta se nios maire fos anois. 24. Is e an casur is troime an casur is fearr. 25. Tabhair dhom an stol is isle agus cuirfidh me mo dhrom leis an bhfalla. 26. Fuaireas an leabhar san ar iasacht 6 dheirfir Thomais. 27. Bhearfad duit amaireach e. 28. Do rug an bho areir, agus shileas na bearfadh si go ceann seachtaine eile. 29. Ni tabharfar do dhothain le n-ithe dhuit sa bhaile mhor. 30. Iosfad mo dhothain, no oiread agus is feidir Horn ar aon chuma. 31. Ni hitear an oiread ann agus a ithimid anso. 32. Bhearfad a rogha dhoibh, imeacht no fanuint sa bhaile. 124 IRISH Exercise 49 A. 1. We bear. 2. They bore. 3. You gave. 4. They will not give. 5. He will do. 6. They will eat. 7. They will be eaten. 8. It was brought here. 9. It will not be done. B. 1. Where did you buy those large cups? 2. I bought the large ones in the village, but I got the small green ones in Cork. 3. The big boys and the strong men were working together reaping the corn. 4. When will the new schools be opened? Next week. 5. We shall have good teachers, and fine schools then. 6. That chair is very comfortable, but the other one is firmer. 7. It is too big; I prefer the red one. 8. Wood is lighter than water. 9. We are older than they. 10. This is the longest road. 11. He is the oldest man in the village. 12. We gave the dryest part of the turf to the oldest people. 13. Wheat is dearer than barley. 14. Is this bag heavier than the other one? 15. They brought these black bags from Cork yesterday. 16. When you have the kettle boiling, we shall eat our supper. 17. Which do you prefer, fresh fish or salt fish? 18. My choice is the salt fish. 19. He will give them the money when they come in. 20. We shall do our best to satisfy him. 21. They borrowed the two small hammers from John, but they have done no work with them yet. 22. They will make the sweet cakes tomorrow and give them to the little children. .