Irish challenge (9)

This post is the 9^h instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 8 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/

It covers:

• adjectives
• forming adverbs from some adjectives
• lenition after masculine plural nouns
• preposition: le (‘with’)
• preposition de (‘of’, ‘from’)
• expressing quantity
• words and phrases

Mutation is indicated below using bold type.
I also use bold type to highlight inflection and derivation.

Adjectives

This section deals mainly with plurals of adjectives, and also covers formation of opposites from some adjectives.

Adjective plurals

Many adjectives form their plurals by adding -a (after a broad consonant) or -e (after a slender consonant). In some cases, a preceding vowel disappears, for instance -ar becomes -ra or -ir becomes -re (examples in table 1).

Table 1. Adjective plurals in -a, -e

Adjectives ending in úil in the singular end in -úla in the plural (table 2).

Table 2. Plurals of adjective in úil

Adjectives ending in a vowel do not change, eg uaine (‘green’), buí (‘yellow’), fada (‘long’)

Some adjectives have irregular plurals (table 3).

Table 3. Irregular plurals of adjectives

Opposites of some adjectives

Some adjectives form their opposites by adding the prefix mí- or neamh- (examples in table 4). These prefixes seem to cause lenition, although my textbook doesn’t say that explicitly.

Table 4. Opposites of some adjectives

Forming adverbs from adjectives

As mentioned in Irish challenge (7) – Language Miscellany, some adjectives require go after tá. An example is go maith (‘good’).

After other verbs, go combines with adjectives to form an adverb of manner. If the adjective starts with a vowel, h- is added before the vowel.

Codlaíonn tú go han-mhaith (‘you sing very well’)
Ní codlaím go maith (‘I didn’t sleep well’)
Ólann sé go trom (‘he drinks heavily’)
Tá sé ag obair go dian (‘he is working hard’)

Lenition after masculine plural nouns

Masculine plural nouns (but not singular nouns) ending in a slender consonant cause lenition of a following adjective (table 5).

Table 5. Lenition of adjective after masculine plural nouns

In contrast, lenition of a following adjective occurs after feminine singular (but not plural) nouns, as already mentioned in instalment 4.

Preposition: le

Among the uses of the preposition le (‘with’) are expressing ownership, and expressing liking and pleasing, as well as uses discussed at Irish challenge (5) – Language Miscellany.

This preposition forms personal forms as shown in table 6. There is also a reinforced version of the personal forms, used for emphasis.

Table 6. Personal forms of le (‘with’)

Ownership

Ownership is expressed with the verb is and the preposition le (example 1). With the reinforced personal forms (middle column of table 6), the verb is (‘be’) is optional (example 2.

(1) is léi na leabhair
      is with.her the books
     ‘the books are hers’

(2) (is) liomsa                  an  leabhar sin
     (is) with.me.emphatic the book     this
‘this book is mine’

Ownership: questions and responses

In yes/no questions involving this construction, an replaces is (example 3a). To respond, use the appropriate form of le after is (for ‘yes’, example3b) or ní (for ‘no’, example 3c). The response does not include the pronoun, noun or noun phrase.

(3a) an leatsa      a cóta seo?
       is   with.you the coat that
      ‘is that coat yours?’
(3b) is liom
       is with.me
      ‘yes’
(3c) ní       liom
       not.is with.me
      ‘no’

Examples of le with a noun (phrase)

Examples 4 and 5 show le with a noun (4) or noun phrase (5).

(4) leis         an   sagart
     with.him the priest
    ‘with the priest’
(5) le cara dom
     with friend of.you
    ‘with a friend of yours’

Another meaning of cé leis

Besides meaning ‘whose’, cé leis also means ‘who with’:

(6) cé    leis         a           bhí    tú    ag caint?
     who with.him particle were you at talking?
    ‘who were you talking with?’

Liking and pleasing

Another use of the preposition le is in constructions meaning ‘likes’ and ‘pleases’.

Likes

Is maith le Sîle ceol (‘Is good with Sheila music’ = ‘Sheila likes music’)
Ní maith le Sîle ceol (‘Sheila doesn’t like music’)
Nach maith le Sîle ceol (‘Doesn’t Sheila like music?’)
An maith le Sîle ceol? (‘Does Sheila like music?’)

Answers to the question An maith le Sîle ceol? (‘Does Sheila like music?’) are:

• Is maith (‘Is liking’ = yes’)
• Ní maith (‘is not liking’ = ‘no’)

A similar construction is used with breá (‘fine’) and (fuath, ‘hatred’)

• Is breá liom é (‘I love it’, breá = ‘fine’)
• Is fuath liom é (‘I hate it’, fuath = ‘hatred’)

Pleases

Taitníonn ceol le Sîle (‘music pleases Sheila’)

taitneamhach = pleasant

Preposition de (‘of’, ‘from’)

The preposition de (‘of’, ‘from’) causes lenition.

an dara lá de bhealtaine (‘the 2^nd [day] of May’)
píosa de dhráma ([a] portion of a play’)
iasacht de charr ([a] loan of [a] car’
lán de dhaoine (’full of people’)

One of

‘one of’ is duine de with people and ceann de with things

duine de mo chairde (‘one of my friends’)
ceann de na tithe (‘one of the houses’)

De as ‘off’ or ‘from’

De sometimes translates best as ‘off’ or ‘from’

bain díot do chóta (‘take off.you your coat’ = ‘take off your coat)
bain de é sin (‘take from him that’ = ‘take that from him’)

Genitive instead of de

Sometimes, the ‘of’ relation is expressed by putting the possessor in the genitive, instead of using de:

mórán airgid (‘a lot of money’, money = airgid)
leabhar filíochta (‘a book of poetry,’ filíocht = ‘poetry’)

The genitive case is introduced in Irish challenge (5) – Language Miscellany

Table 7. Personal forms of de (‘from’)

Cuid ‘part, portion’

Cuid (‘part, portion’) is a feminine noun, followed by:

• a noun in the genitive case;
  cuid mhaith airgid  (‘a good amount of money’)
• de if the noun follows the definitive article
  cuid den airgead (‘some of the money’, den = de + an)
  cuid de na daoine (‘some of the people’)
  cuid díobh (‘some of them’)
• sometimes, forms of ag (‘at’):
  cuid acu (‘some of them’), cuid againn (‘some of us)

Most of

‘Most of’ is an chuid is mó (de)—‘the part which is greatest of’

Tá an chuid is mó de daoine anseo
Is the part [which] is greatest of [the people] here
‘most of the people are here’

Indefinite quantity

Before nouns referring to an indefinite quantity, possessive pronouns are used before a lenited (singular pronouns, except feminine) or eclipsed (plural pronouns) form of cuid, instead of the pronoun alone.
mo chuid airgid (‘my portion of money’ = ‘my money’)
a chuid leaabhair (‘his books’)
a cuid gruaige (‘her hair’)
ár gcuid ama (‘our time’)
bhur gcuid airgid (‘your money’)
a gcuid leabhair (‘their books’)

Expressing quantity

Singular nouns (but not plural nouns) generally go in the genitive case after expressions of quantity.

tá beagán airgid aige
Is little money.GEN at.him
‘he has a small amount of money’
[airgid is the genitive of airgead, ‘money’]

Tá morán leabhair agam
Is many books at.me
‘I have many books’

All / each / every

There are 3 ways to say ‘all’ and they follow the noun, like other adjectives:

tá na dioscaí ar fad anseo
tá na dioscaí go léir anseo
tá na dioscaí uilig anseo
is the discs all here
‘the disks are all here’

Unlike those 3 expressions, gach (‘every’) precedes the noun it modifies.
tá gach diosca anseo
is every disc     here
‘every disc is here’

Some other expressions of quantity

 a lá (‘lots of’), mórán (‘many’), tuilleadh (‘more’), roinnt (‘some’)

Words and phrases

Colours

Irish Uaine describes manufactured green things and glas describes plants, though in Welsh, glas means ‘blue’.

Irish gorm (‘blue’) reminds me of a restaurant I once saw at Copenhagen airport, called Gorm’s Can you negate the word ‘gormless’? – Language Miscellany

Dorcha (‘dark’, Welsh tywyll) and éadrom (‘light’, Welsh golau) precede words designating colours they modify.

Describing people

ard (‘tall’), íseal (‘short’), ramhar (‘fat’), tanai (‘thin’), láidir (strong’), lag (‘weak’), gránna (unpleasant, rude’), croiúll (‘cheerful’, croi = ‘heart’), cineálta (‘kind’), meabhrach (‘intelligent’, meabhair = ‘mind’), éirimiúll (‘intelligent’), cliste (‘dexterous, smart’), dáirire (‘smart’), díograiseach (‘diligent’), dilis (‘loyal’), stuama (‘level-headed’)

Clothing

léine (f, shirt), blús (blouse), geansai (‘pullover’), treabhsar / bríste (‘trousers’), cóta (m) / casóg (f) (‘coat / jacket’), culaith (f) éadaigh (‘suit [of clothes]’, seaicéad (‘jacket’), sciorta (skirt), gúna (dress), stoca(i) (‘stockings’)

Other words and phrases

mar (‘because’), mar sin (‘therefore’ = ‘because that’), oireann … do (‘suits’), ceapann … do (‘thinks of’), féasóg (f. ‘beard’)

ar ndóigh (‘of course’), brontannas (‘present, ‘gift’), ar aigne (‘in mind’), ag lorg (‘looking for’), ag smaionsamh ar (‘thinking of’), anois is aris (‘now and again), ó am go ham (‘from time to time’)

Source

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