Imperative and Subjunctive.
by Myles Dillon
ALESSON XXV The tenses of the indicative mood are given in Lessons II and IX. There remain to be learned the imperative and subjunctive moods. The imperative expresses a command: "Go away!" "Open the window!" "Let us begin!" "Let them do their best!" We can now consider the imperative forms of the regular verb and of tdim. The second person singular, which is the commonest form, is the bare stem of the verb: dun "shut"; buail "strike"; eist "listen"; eirigh 1 "get up"; suigh "sit down", etc. And the second person plural has the ending idh, pronounced -ig. (In Northern Irish this ending has become -igi.) Dunaim "I shut" Buailim "I strike" Taim "I am" Sg. 1 dunaim buailim bim 2 dun bud bi 3 dunadhse buaileadhse biodhse PL l dunaimis buailimis bimis 2 dunaidh buailidh bidh 3 dunaidis buailidis bidis Passive: duntar buailtear bitear You have had some examples of the imperative 2 sg. in earlier lessons: abair "say", tabhair "give", innis "tell", etc. Here are examples of other forms which may now be intro- duced: cuiridh oraibh bhur mbroga "put on your shoes!"; suigh or an stol son "sit on that stool!"; bidis anso or a haon a 1 Verbs in -zm (new spelling for -ighim) show the -gh of the stem in the 2 sg. imperative and 3 sg. past (d'eirigh), where the finite form is the mere stem. Remember that this final -igh is pronounced ig (p. 10). 142 LESSON XXV 143 chlog "let them be here at one o'clock!" (The English transla- tion can here cause confusion. "Let them come in!" as a command is tagaidis isteach; but if the meaning is "allow them to come in!" the Irish will be lig doibh teacht isteach). The negative particle used with the imperative is nd: nd biodh eagla ort! "don't be afraid!"; nd bac el "don't heed him!" VOCABULARY brostaigh ort! (brosdig ort) hurryl coroin (krong) f.flve shillings deanach (deeanach) late fod (fod) m. sod (of peat) fuisci (fwishgee) m. whiskey gloine (glini) f. glass go foill (fol) yet, for awhile id theannta (haunta) with you lampa (laumpa) m. lamp luach (looach) m. value, price; luach scillinge a shilling 's worth maide ramha (modi-raa) m. oar millean (mi-laan) m. blame milsean (meesh-laan) m. a sweet teir! (ter)go! Exercise 57 1. Tabhair duinn dha ghloine fuisci, mas e do thoil e. 2. Cuir umat do chasog mhor agus teimis abhaile anois. 3. Deineadh se a rogha rud, ach na biodh aon mhillean aige orm-sa. 4. Na caillidis an t-airgead. 5. Tugaidh 1 libh na paisti agus na deinidh aon mhoill ar an mbothar. 6. Bidh istigh roimh a deich a chlog. 7. Tagaidis abhaile id theannta. 8. Bris na foid sin agus cuir sios tine. 9. Na las an lampa go foill, mar nil se dorcha fos. 10. Teir soir go dti an siopa agus ceannaigh luach scillinge de mhilseain dom. Exercise 58 1. Send a letter to (use churi) Cormac and tell him to send us money. 2. Go to the post-office and buy five shilling's worth of stamps. 3. Hurry, and do not be late for (from the) supper! 4. Let us have a game of cards before the strangers come. 5. Put (pi.) out the dogs and shut the stable-doors, for 1 The 2 sg. tabhair is irregular; the other forms are tugadh se, tugaimis, tugaidh, tugaidis, tugtar. 144 IRISH it will soon be dark. 6. Let them do their best, and we shall not blame them. 7. Let them ask William where he left the oars, and we shall all go fishing. SUBJUNCTIVE. The subjunctive of the regular verb and the subjunctive of taim are as follows: First Conjugation. dunaim "I shut" Present Past Sg. 1 dunad dunainn 2 dunair duntha 3 dunsse dunadhse Pi. 1 dunaimid dunaimis 2 dunasibh dunadhsibh 3 dunaid dunaidis Passive: duntar duntai buailim "I strike" Present Past Sg. 1 buailead buailinn 2 buailir buailthea 3 buailese buaileadhse Pi. 1 buailimid buailimis 2 buailesibh buaileadh sibh 3 buailid buailidis Passive: buailtear buailti taim "I am" Sg. 1 rabhad beinn 2 rabhair beithea 3 raibhse beadhse Pi. 1 rabhaimid beimis 2 rabhabhair beadhsibh (raibh sibh) 3 rabhaid beidis Passive: rabhthar beifi LESSON XXV 145 Present Sg. 1 irrriod 2 irrrir 3 irrrise PL 1 imimid 2 imisibh 3 imid Passive: imitear Second Conjugation. imim I go Past iminn imithea imiodh se imimis imiodh sibh imidis imiti Sg. 1 osclaiod 2 osclair 3 osclaise PL 1 osclaimid 2 osclaisibh 3 osclaid Passive: osclaitear osclaim "I open" osclainn osclaithea osclaiodh se osclaimis osclaiodh sibh osclaidis osclaiti A wish is expressed by the subjunctive mood, preceded by the particle go (eel.) for the affirmative, or by ndr (asp.) for the negative: go dteir sldn abhaile! "(May you go) safe home!" Go gcuire Dia an t-ddh ort! "God prosper you!" Go meadai Dia do stor! "God increase your wealth!" (said in thanks). Ndr lige Dia son! "God forbid!" Go maithe Dia dhuit e! "God forgive you!" Go raibh maith agatl "Thank you!" Before raibh the negative is nd: nd raibh se mar sin! "may it not be so!" The forms of the copula (is) are: pres. -b; past ba. In an affirmative wish the conjunction is gura, and -b is dropped before consonants, so that you have gurab, gura, and nega- tive ndrab, ndra: Gurab amhlaidh dhuit! "The same to you!" (in reply to a salutation); Gurafearrde thu e! "May you be the better of it!"; Ndrafada go bhfeicfimid oris tu! "May it not be 146 IRISH long until we see you again!" Dd mba mhaith leat e "if you liked." Apart from this use, the subjunctive is almost obsolete in southern Irish. The subjunctive may be used after go "until", and the past subjunctive after dd "if (see Lesson XVI).Thus "wait till he comes!" is fan go dtaga se or fan go dtiocfaidh se; "if he should come" dd dtagadh se or dd, dtiocfadh se. The forms of the past subjunctive are the same as those of the imperfect indicative, but the past subjunc- tive is always preceded by an eclipsing conjunction (go, dd, or mar a). .