Irregular Comparison of Adjectives. The Adverb.
by Myles Dillon
ALESSON XXII The following adjectives have irregular forms in the com- parative-superlative : Chomh "as" is followed by the preposition le before a noun (p. 55). Before a verb it is followed by the conjunction agus and the relative particle: td Mdirtin chomh hard le Sean "Martin is as tall as John"; nil na prdtai chomh maith i mbliana agus a bhiodar anuraidh "the potatoes are not as good this year as they were last year". iVd "than" is followed by the conjunction mar before a verb: td na prdtai niosfearr i mbliana na mar a bhiodar anuraidh. For the use of go to form adverbs see p. 58: go maith "well", go hole "badly". 1 In the comparative and superlative go is not used, and the adjective serves as an adverb: labhrann Sean nios fearr na Seamas "John speaks better than James"; isfearr a labhrann Tomds "Tom speaks better"; Is e Diarmaid is fearr a labhrann "Dermod speaks best". 2 (To be distinguished from mo "bigger, more" is the word mo "many", which has a peculiar construction, being 1 Both chomh and go prefix h- to vowels. 2 See Lesson XXVI (relatives). e* 125 ard "high" aoirde beag "small" lu brea "fine" breatha cruaidh "hard" crua fada "long" sia (faide) miriste "easy" usa gearr "short" giorra maith "good" fearr minic "often" minici mor big mo ole "bad" measa te "warm" teo tirim "dry" trioma trean "strong" treise 126 IRISH preceded always by the copula is, and followed by a relative clause: is mo oiche a chattheas arm "many a night I spent there"; is mo duine ndfeadfadh e a dheanamh "many a man could not do it"; an mo duine atd ann "how many people are there?" (Note that in Irish the noun is always singular.) Some simple adverbs of time have already occurred in the vocabularies: anois "now", ansan "then", inniu "today", inne "yesterday", cathain "when?" anocht "tonight", areir "last night", amdireach "tomorrow". Adverbs of place: ann "there", as "away, out", ansan "there" (demonstr.), anso "here", ansud "yonder", thall "over there", abhus "over here", i n-airde "up, above", cd (eel.) "where?" Some adverbs of place have two forms for rest and motion respectively; and others have three forms, when motion towards and from the speaker are distinguished. Adverbs with two forms 1 Motion Rest isteach "in" istigh (ish-dig) amach "out" amuigh (a-mu) Adverbs with three forms Rest Motion Motion towards 1 thios "down, sios "down" anios "up from below" below" thuas "up, above" suas "up" anuas "down from above" thiar "west" siar "west" aniar "from the west" thoir "east" soir "east" anoir "from the east" thuaidh "north" 6 thuaidh aduaidh "from the "north" north" theas "south" 6 dheas aneas "from the "south" south" 1 All of these are stressed on the final syllable. LESSON XXII 127 The following adverbs and adverbial phrases should be memorised. Many of them have already occurred in the Lessons. anuraidh (a-nirig) last year ar eigin (er-egin) hardly ar maidin (er-madin) in the morning, this morning am amaireach (o-roo maarach) the day after tomorrow am inne (o-roo ne) the day before yesterday beagnach (byog-naach) almost cad 'na thaobh (kona-hav) why? choiche (cheehi) ever (in the future), always fe lathair (fe laahir) at present geall le (gyoul le) almost go deo- (ga-dyo) for ever go brach (ga-braach) for ever go deimhin (ga-dayn) indeed go leir (ga-ler) entirely, all i gconai (i-gonee) always i lathair (i-laahir) present i mbliana (i-mleeana) this year i n-aisce (i-nashgi) free, for nothing i n-aon chor (i-nachar) at all i n-eineacht (le) (i-nenacht) together {with) istoiche (is-deehi) at night leis (lesh) also 6 shin (o-hin) since riamh (reeav) ever thar n-ais (hor-nash) back urn thrathnona (hraan-hona) in the evening Note coicios 6 shin "a fortnight ago"; but coicios is an Id inniu "a fortnight ago today" and coicios on Id inniu "a fortnight from today". Note also: an baile seo againn-ne "our village"; an gairdin seo againn-ne "our garden". 128 IRISH VOCABULARY aer (ar)m. air ag eiri (ig ay-ree) rising, becoming alainn (aaling) beautiful; compar. ailie (aali) an Bhoin (an voing) f. the Boyne an tSionainn (an tyuning) f. the Shannon ardan (aar-daan) m. high ground ceacht (kyacht) m. lesson (pi. ceachtanna) cliste (klishdi) clever curamach (kooramach) care- ful doimhin (dayng) deep domhan (doun) m. world farraige (forigi) f. sea fior-uisce (feerishgi) m. spring-water iarann (eearan) m. iron im choinnibh towards me islean (eesh-laan) m. -low ground leisciuil (lesh-gyool) lazy or (or) m. gold radharc (rayark) m. view saile (saali) m. sea-water scriobhaim (shgreem) / write Seosamh (shosav) Joseph staighre (sdayri) m. stairs, staircase tiomanai (ta-maanee) m. driver ull (ool) m. apple Exercise 50 From the following groups make up comparisons thus: an coileach, laidir, an chearc Is laidre an coileach na an chearc; ta an coileach nios laidre na an chearc. 1. Baile Atha Cliath, mor, Corcaigh. 2. An domhan, beag, an ghrian. 3. An Bhoinn, fada, an tSionainn. 4. An t-6r, cruaidh, an t-iarann. 5. An t-aer, trom, an t-uisce. 6. An tarbh, trean, an fear. 7. An garsun, cliste, an cailin. 8. An loch, doimhin, an fharraige. Exercise 51 1. An bhmil na nulla so nios daoire na na cinn sin? 2. Sin iad na cinn is daoire. 3. Is 1 Maire an cailin is aille ar an mbaile. 4. Ce acu an garsun is cliste? 5. Is e Peadar an te is cliste acu, ach ta Seosamh beagnach chomh cliste leis. 6. Ta crann is LESSON XXII 129 aoirde na e sin sa ghairdin seo againn-ne. 7. Caithfidh an tiomanai bheith nios curamai ar an mbothar istoiche na mar a bheadh se sa la. 8. Bim-se curamach i gconai. 9. Taim ag imeacht go tapaidh anois, ach ta radharc maith agam ar an mbothar. 10. Chuamair isteach sa tigh i gcoir an dinneir agus d'fhanamair istigh leath-uair an chloig. 11. Thanamair amach ansan agus d'fhanamair amuigh go trathnona. 12. Raghaidh si i n-airde an staighre chun na seomrai a ghlanadh, agus beidh si tamall thuas. 13. Tioc- faidh si anuas ansan, agus fanfaidh si thios. 14. Rith soir go dti an tobar agus tabhair leat anoir buicead uisce. 15. Nuair a bhios ag dul siar an bothar, do bhi an sagart ag teacht aniar im choinnibh. Exercise 52 1. Sugar is cheaper now than it was last year. 2. Is Tom taller than Mary? 3. Michael is the tallest of them. 4. John will do the work well, but Michael will do it better. 5. Mar- garet does her lessons more carefully than her sister. 6. Are you as lazy as your brother? 7. This boy does not look as strong as his friend. 8. James is the strongest of them all. 9. I answered as well as I could. 10. Is that knife sharper than this one? 11. Sea-water is warmer than spring-water. 12. The road eastwards is shorter than the road westwards. 13. The high ground is drier than the low ground. 14. When we were going upstairs, James was coming down. .