Irish challenge (8)

This post is the 8^th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 7 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/

It covers:

• asking and telling the time
• verbs: present tense
• questions
• go leor (‘enough, plenty, fairly’)
• nouns ending in -ín
• other words and phrases

Mutation (lenition or eclipsis) is indicated below using bold type. For more on mutation, please see Irish spelling and pronunciation – Language Miscellany
I also use bold type for emphasis in some places, for example to highlight verb endings.

Asking and telling the time

Ar and ag referring to time

Ar (‘on’):

• says the time when something happens:
  ar a sé a chlog (at 6 o’clock’)
  ar dtús (‘at first’),
• refers to days of the week in a general sense:
  ar an Domhnach (‘all / most Sundays’)

Ag (‘at’) is used in most other expressions of time:

• ag an deireadh seachtaine (‘at weekends’)
• ag meánoiche (‘at midnight’)
• ag meánlae (‘at midday’)
• ag am loin (‘at lunchtime’)
• ag am dinnéir (‘at dinner’)
• ag an Nollaig (‘at Christmas’)
• ag an gCáisc (‘at Easter’)

More expressions of time

Frequency: uaireanta (‘sometimes’), anois is arís (‘now and again’), ó am go ham (‘from time to time’), go minic (‘often’), de ghnáth (‘usually’)

Sequence: ansin (‘then’), níos déanaí (later’, déanach ‘late’)

Time of day: ar maidin (‘in the morning’), sa tráthnóna (‘in the afternoon / evening’), istoíche (at night)

níl sé a hocht a chlog fós ‘it isn’t 8.00 yet’

tá sé beagnach a naio ‘it is almost 9.00

uair an chlog (fem.) ‘an hour’ = an hour of the clock, nóimead (‘minute’), soicind (‘a second’), deich chun a ceathair (‘3.50’

When a number follows tá sé (‘it is’), the number needs a before it:
tá sé a leathuair tar éis a sé (‘it is half past 6)

Thart ar a naoi a chlog (‘round 9.00’)

an dtosaíonn tú ag obair go luath (‘do you start work(ing) early?’)

ní chríochnaim go dtí (‘I don’t finish until …’)

Verbs: present tense

Table 1 shows the verb endings in the present tense for the verb

Table 1. Verb endings, present tense.

As table 1 shows, there is no personal pronoun form in the 1^st person (singular or plural).

If the verb stem ends in a consonant, a spelling adjustment occurs:

• if the vowel before the consonant ends in <a, o, u>, that  consonant is ‘broad’, so the forms –im and -imid are written –aim and –aimid.
• if the vowel before the consonant ends in < i>, the consonant is ‘slender’ (palatalised), so <e> is placed after the consonant—unless the following vowel is already <i> or <e>. [presumably the same applies if the preceding vowel is <e>, but the textbook doesn’t comment on this].

Table 2 shows these spelling changes for a verb stem ending in a broad consonant (fág-, ‘leave’) and for one ending in a slender consonant (cuir-, ‘put’).

Table 2. Spelling changes for verb stems ending in a consonant

Simple present tense v progressive

tá mé ag dul (‘I am going’) v téim (‘I go’)

The 2 verb classes

There are 2 classes of verbs: with and without -í- before the verbal ending. The verbs shown in table 2 do not have -í-.

Spelling adjustments for verbs with -í- before the verbal ending:

• -í- is written <-aí> after a broad consonant.
• í + im(id) becomes ím(id);
• í + ann becomes íonn,

Table 3 shows the endings for a verb with -í- after a slender consonant (im– ‘go away’) and a verb with -í- after a broad consonant (ceann– ‘buy’).

Table 3. Spelling changes for verbs with -í- before the suffix

Other verbs with a stem ending in a broad consonant: fanann (stops), déanann ‘does, makes’, tugann ‘gives’, criochnaíonn ‘finishes’, tosaíonn ‘starts’

Other verbs with a stem ending in a slender consonant: ligeann ‘lets’, faigheann ‘gets’, itheann ‘eats’, tuigeann ‘understands’, oibríonn ‘works’, bailíonn ‘collects’, léann ‘reads’, creideann ‘believes’, éiríonn ‘gets up’

Questions

Negative marker ní and question marker an

To make a statement, add ní before the statement. To make a statement into a question, add an before it. Both these particles cause initial consonant mutation: lenition (ní) or eclipsis (an):

• téim (‘I go’)
• ní théim (‘I do not go’)
• an dtéim? (‘do I go?’)

Cén – what

Being a combination of cé who and the definite article an (‘the’), cén affects the next word as follows:

• add t- before a vowel
  cén t-am é (‘what time is it?)
• cause lenition on following feminine noun:
  cén fhuinneoig (‘what window?’ Window’ = fhuinneog)
• add t- before feminine noun starting with s-:
  cén tslí bheatha atá agat? (What is your occupation? slí (‘way’) is feminine, slí bheatha = ‘way of life’).
• do not change masculine nouns starting with a consonant.

Verbs after question words

Questions beginning with words like Cad? Which, Céard, Cé ‘who’ or Cén t-am ‘what time’ need the particle a before the verb. This particle a causes lenition on the verb.

Cad a dhéannan tú?
‘what is it you do?’

Cé a bhí leat?
Who was with you?

Cén t-am a thoisaíonn tú?
What time (which) you begin?

Tá doesn’t undergo lenition after a and a + tá is written as one word.

Cén post atá agat?
what job do you have? [which job is it which you have?]

Answering questions

Irish has no equivalents of yes and no. Instead, use the verb by itself or replace it with the appropriate form of déanann (‘do’).

• an itheann tú cáis? (‘do you eat cheese?’)
• ithim (‘I eat’ = ‘yes’) / déanaim (‘I do’ = ‘yes’)

As noted above, the present tense of 2^nd and 3^rd person verbs in the present tense is accompanied by a pronoun. In answering a question, that pronoun is not included:

An dtéann sé abhaile go luath? (does he go home early?)
Téann / Déanann (‘[he] goes / does = ‘yes’)

Go leor (enough, plenty, fairly)

Go leor is the source of English galore.

Use it:

• before a noun (in the genitive case) to mean ‘enough’
  go leor airgid (‘enough money’, ‘money’ = airgead)
  go leor ama (‘plenty of time’)
• after an adjective to mean ‘fairly
  tá mé tuirseach go leor (‘I am fairly tired’)

Nouns ending in -ín

The suffix -ín forms diminutives (meaning ‘small’) from nouns. It also creates familiar versions of personal names. It makes the stem’s final consonant slender (palatalised):

• tamaillín (‘little while’, tamall = ‘a while’)
• capaillín (‘pony’, capall = ‘horse’)
• firín (‘small man’, ‘man’ = fear)
• beain (‘small woman’, woman’ = bean)
• Tomaisín (‘Tommy’, ‘Thomas’ = Tomas)

Some masculine words ending in -ín are not derived from any more basic word: cailín (‘girl’), aintín (‘aunt’), gairdín (‘garden’), meaisín (‘machine’)

Some female names end in -ín, including Máirín (‘Maureen’), Caitlín (‘Kathleen’), Eibhlín (Eileen).

Other words and phrases

Nouns: fear poist ‘post man’, banaltra ‘nurse’

adverbs: abailhe [to] home, roimhe ‘before’?

discourse particles: bhuel ‘well’

verbs and verb phrases: obair ‘work’? téim amach ‘I go out’ crúim na ba ‘I milk the cows’ dean deifir ‘hurry up’ = ‘make haste’

phrases: tóg bog é (‘take it easy’: bog = ‘soft’)

Source

Teach Yourself Irish, Diarmuid Ó Sé and Joseph Sheils (1993)