Irish challenge (9)

This post is the 9h 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…… Continue reading Irish challenge (9)

Irish challenge (8)

This post is the 8th 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…… Continue reading Irish challenge (8)

Irish challenge (7)

This post is the 7th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 6 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ It covers: past, present and future of tá time expressions adjectives weather nouns other words and phrases Mutation is indicated below using bold type. Past, present,…… Continue reading Irish challenge (7)

Welsh challenge (7)

This post is the 7th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 6 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany I’ve used bold type below to highlight words affected by mutations and an asterisk * to mark words followed by mutation. Numbers I show below…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (7)

Irish challenge (6)

This post is the 6th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 5 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ It covers: the demonstrative sin (‘that’) possessive phrases ‘above’ and ‘below’ more on prepositions ‘very’ ann (‘there’) cá bhfuil? (‘where is?) verbs: (1) perfect tense; (2)…… Continue reading Irish challenge (6)

Welsh challenge (6)

This post is the 6th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 5 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany For a few words and phrases, there are differences between north (N) and south (S) Wales.I’ve used bold type below to highlight words…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (6)

Irish challenge (5)

This post is the 5th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 4 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ The demonstrative seo To introduce a person or present a thing, use seo (‘this’) without a verb:Seo Tomás (‘this is Thomas’). In Munster and Connacht, a…… Continue reading Irish challenge (5)

The Indo-European Lexicon project

The aim of the Indo-European Lexicon (IELEX) at The University of Texas at Austin is to collect the individual words of Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the common parent of the Indo-European (IE) family of languages.  No documents of PIE exist because it predates the invention of writing. Historical linguists use the ‘comparative method’ to reconstruct elements of…… Continue reading The Indo-European Lexicon project

Irish challenge (4)

This post is the 4th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 3 of Teach Yourself Irish.  For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ Possession, and personal forms of ag Irish has no transitive verb meaning ‘have’. Instead, use the preposition ag (‘at’), see example 1.(1) Ta clann ag Síle     …… Continue reading Irish challenge (4)

Welsh challenge (4)

This post is the 4th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 3 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany Possession Welsh has no transitive verb meaning have. Instead, the verb mae is used with the preposition gyda (‘with’), or in speech often…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (4)