#copail

[toingaeilge]

Conditional Mood 3: With the Copula

This post is about using the conditional mood with the copula form. Recap on the copula:

Masterpost: When to Use the Copula

All posts covering the copula

Postive

The conditional form of the copula is ba, which follows dá with an urú. It is contracted before a vowel.

Dá mb’í Áine an rúnaí, bheadh gach rud foirfe If Áine were the secretary, everything would be perfect

Negative

The negative form of dá mba is murar, which causes a séimhiú and becomes murarbh before a vowel.

Murarbh fhéidir leat é a dhéanamh ba cheart duit cúnamh a fháil If you couldn’t do it, you should have got help

Neutral

Má is merged with is to form más:

Más dochtúir thú, tá ceist agam ort If you’re a doctor, I have a question for you

Mura becomes murab before vowels:

Murab é sin do chóta, is dócha gur liomsa é If that’s not your coat, it’s probably mine

Ways to Emphasise

The word féin can be inserted after the verb, to say “even if”.

Dá dtiocfadh sí féin, bheadh sí ródheireanach Even if she came, she’d be too late

Try it

Translate the following:

1. If it's a good shop, I will buy my shoes there. 2. Call me if you can. 3. If Colm isn't the leader, who is? 4. I talked to him, but even so, I was surprised.

Hover below for answers

1. Más siopa maith é, ceannóidh mé mo bhróga ann. 2. Cuir glaoch orm más féidir leat. 3. Murab é Colm an ceannaire, cé hé? 4. Labhair mé leis, ach má labhair féin, bhí iontas orm.

[toinghaeilge]

Answering Yes and No Questions

You will hear many people tell you that there are no words for 'yes' and 'no' in Irish. Well, that's some seafóid for you, because there are many. Very, very many. Lots many. Big many. You get the idea.

A yes/no question in Irish depends on what you're responding to. If the question contains a verb, i.e.

An ndéanann tú bosca? Do you make a box?

You respond with the positive or negative form of the verb:

Déanaim. I make. [yes]

Ní dhéanaim. I do not make. [no]

More commonly, you see the verb “to be”:

An bhfuil tú ann? Are you (being) there?

In which case, you answer again with the positive or negative (present tense for this example) form of bí:

Táim. I am. [yes]

Níl mé. I am not. [no]

The Copula

For the copular question (identification, ownership, origin and some adjectives): you can often answer with ní hea or is ea (shortened to ‘sea):

Identification:

An fear é Seán? Is Seán a man?

‘Sea He is [yes]

Ní hea He isn’t [no]

In other instances, the words is and ní are used.

Ownership:

Ní leatsa é, an leat? It's not yours, is it?

Is liomsa It’s mine [yes]

Ní liom It isn’t mine [no]

Certain Adjectives:

An maith leat? Do you like it?

Is maith (liom) I do [yes]

Ní maith (liom) I do not [no]

Try it

Write positive or negative answers to the following questions:

1. An miste leat má thagann seisean? 2. An bhfuil arm ar bith ar iompar agat? 3. An é sin a charr? 4. An leat an carr sin?

Hover below for answers

1. (Is) Miste. OR Ní miste. 2. Tá. OR Níl (ar bith). 3. 'Sea. OR Ní hea. 4. Is liomsa. OR Ní liom.

[toinghaeilge]

Tú vs. thú

This post covers the usage of subject vs. object forms of pronouns.

Subject forms: Mé, tú, sé, sí, muid, siad and their emphatic equivalents

Object forms: Mé, thú, é, í, muid, iad and their emphatic equivalents

The Action Party

Tú or tusa is used as the actor or subject, while thú or thusa is used as the object. To illustrate:

Cloisfidh tú é Cloisifdh sé thú

Notice that the actor (subject form) always follows the verb.

An exception would be if the verb is autonomous: no party is specified to be acting. You can read in depth about deriving impersonal verb forms in this post. For example, one cleans it:

Glantar é One cleans it

The impersonal verb, glantar, is followed by the object form é.

The Copula

Tú or tusa follows immediately after the copula form:

Is tusa a thuigeann mé

Verbal Noun

In the first point, with you as the object, we used thú over tú. However, with the verbal noun, this would be tú.

tú a chloisint

Tú and tusa are also used after agus and with certain prepositions such as idir and gan.

Recap:

Subject form

As the actor (cloisfidh tú)

Directly following the copula (is tusa a thuigeann mé)

Verbal noun (tú a chloisint)

After agus (mise agus thusa)

Certain prepositions (idir tusa agus eisean, gan tusa)

Object form

As object (cloisifdh sé thú)

Not directly following the copula (cé as thú?)

Munster Irish

Munster tends to use thú after words ending in a vowel, and when it appears outside of that it is considered an archaic form.

Note: As a point of interest, Scottish Gaelic uses only the lenited versions: thu and thusa (no fada!).

Try it

Translate the following:

1. I'll see you again. 2. You're killing yourself. 3. I don't understand you.

Hover below for answers

1. Feicfidh mé arís thú. 2. Maróidh tú thú féin. 3. Ní thuigim thú.

Multiple Pronouns: You and What Army?

[toinghaeilge]

Conditional Mood 3: With the Copula

This post is about using the conditional mood with the copula form. Recap on the copula:

Masterpost: When to Use the Copula

All posts covering the copula

Postive

The conditional form of the copula is ba, which follows dá with an urú. It is contracted before a vowel.

Dá mb’í Áine an rúnaí, bheadh gach rud foirfe If Áine were the secretary, everything would be perfect

Negative

The negative form of dá mba is murar, which causes a séimhiú and becomes murarbh before a vowel.

Murarbh fhéidir leat é a dhéanamh ba cheart duit cúnamh a fháil If you couldn’t do it, you should have got help

Neutral

Má is merged with is to form más:

Más dochtúir thú, tá ceist agam ort If you’re a doctor, I have a question for you

Mura becomes murab before vowels:

Murab é sin do chóta, is dócha gur liomsa é If that’s not your coat, it’s probably mine

Ways to Emphasise

The word féin can be inserted after the verb, to say “even if”.

Dá dtiocfadh sí féin, bheadh sí ródheireanach Even if she came, she’d be too late

Try it

Translate the following:

1. If it's a good shop, I will buy my shoes there. 2. Call me if you can. 3. If Colm isn't the leader, who is? 4. I talked to him, but even so, I was surprised.

Hover below for answers

1. Más siopa maith é, ceannóidh mé mo bhróga ann. 2. Cuir glaoch orm más féidir leat. 3. Murab é Colm an ceannaire, cé hé? 4. Labhair mé leis, ach má labhair féin, bhí iontas orm.

[toinghaeilge]

Comparatives 2:  Emphasis with the Copula

Last time on Comparatives, we learnt how to alter adjectives for comparatives and superlatives. We know how to express that Cuán is younger than Áine:

Tá Cuán níos óige ná Áine

However, when we want to emphasise that Cuán is younger than Áine, we have to use the copula. Here are two posts you might like to recap on:

Emphatic Forms 2: Sentence Construction

Masterpost: When to Use the Copula

Now, with that fresh in mind, compare the following pairs:

Tá Cuán níos óige ná Áine Cuan is younger than Áine

Is óige Cuán ná Áine Cuán is younger than Áine

Níos is dropped in the copula form. This form is most often seen in seanfhocail:

Is measa na mná ná an t-ól

When the comparative sticks

Another important occasion where níos is dropped is if the sentence has the comparative (poorer) lumped together with the compared (people). Compare these two sentences:

Tá daoine níos boichte ná Pól There are people poorer than Paul

Feicfidh tú daoine is boichte ná Pól You’ll see poorer people than Paul

Try it

Translate the following:

1. My father is stronger than your father. 2. I am the youngest person in the family. 3. This question is better than the other question.

Hover below for answers

1. Is láidre m'athair ná d'athair. 2. Is mise an duine is óige sa teaghlach. 3. Is fearr an cheist seo ná an cheist eile.

Next in Comparatives: Equality

[toinghaeilge]

Emphatic Forms 2: Sentences

In English, we can stress different words to emphasise different parts of the sentence. Here we use the copula, but structure the sentences depending on what it is we want to emphasise.

Note: All of these use the relative clause, so here’s a recap on that if necessary.

Take this sentence for an example:

Cheannaigh mé cat i gCorcaigh inniu

Is mise a cheannaigh cat i gCorcaigh inné I bought a cat in Cork yesterday or: It was me who bought a cat in Cork yesterday

Is cat a cheannaigh mé i gCorcaigh inné I bought a cat in Cork yesterday or: It was a cat that I bought in Cork yesterday

Is i gCorcaigh a cheannaigh mé cat inné I bought a cat in Cork yesterday or: It was in Cork that I bought a cat yesterday

Is inné a cheannaigh mé cat i gCorcaigh I bought a cat in Cork yesterday or: It was yesterday that I bought a cat in Cork

Is could also be omitted:

Mise a cheannaigh cat i gCorcaigh inne

Emphasising Verbs

(Is) ag caint le mo mhúinteoir a bhí mé I was talking to my teacher It’s talking to my teacher that I was doing

You can also use déan as a tool to emphasise another action:

An fhuinneog a bhriseadh a rinne sé He broke the window

Titim a dhéanfaidh tú You’ll fall

And in Munster, is amhlaidh is used to emphasise verbs. It means it is thus:

Is amhlaidh a bhris sé an fhuinneog

Connacht, on the other hand, favours ’sé an chaoi:

‘Sé an chaoi a bhris sé an fhuinneog

And in a question,

Ab é an chaoi ar shiúil tú ón mbus?

Alternatively, Flip Everything Around

Using ‘seard, we can put the emphases in the last part of the sentence:

’Séard a rinne siad ná an fhuinneog a bhriseadh What they did was break the window

And for nouns:

’Séard a cheannaigh mé ná cat What I bought was a cat

If the emphasis is on a person, ‘séard becomes ‘sé.

Try it

Translate these:

1. Is it you who will buy the cat? 2. Eóin is the one who bought the cat. 3. It was buying that cat that Eóin was doing.

Hover below for answers

1. An tusa a cheannóidh an bia? 2. Is é Eóinse a cheannaigh an cat. OR Is amhlaidh a cheannaigh Eóin an cat. OR ’Sé a cheannaigh an cat ná Eóin. 3. (Is) ag cheannaigh an cat sin a bhí Eóin. OR ’Séard a rinne Eóin ná an cat sin a cheannaigh.

[toinghaeilge]

Whom’st’ve 2: With the Copula

Relative clauses start with the relative pronouns who, that, which, whose, where, and when, which we will collectively call whom'st'ves. Whom'st'ves define or identify the noun that precedes them, i.e. the teacher whom I like.

Under the relative clause, the copula still uses is, ba, nach, nár and nárbh, but before a word starting with a vowel or an fh-, ba becomes ab. Nothing else changes with the copula.

So, again with whom’st’ve, we use the copula (while deliberately taking the chance to demonstate ba):

The teacher whom I’d prefer

would then be:

An mhúnteoir ab fhearr liom

Classification and Identification

However, under the relative clause, classification sentences using the copula tend to be avoided. “Mo dhochtúir is madra é an dochtúir” would make for a very clumsy (and wrong) sentence. Instead, bí is preferred.

So, avoiding the copula, we have the same form as in Whom’st’ve 1:

Mo mhadra atá ina dhochtúir

Remembering, of course, that a + tá = atá and the form “in his doctorhood”.

Try it

Translate these:

1. The food I like 2. The man who is a referee 3. The whiskey I’d prefer

Hover below for answers

1. An bia is maith liom 2. An fear atá ina réiteoir 3. An uisce beatha ab fhearr liom

Next in Relative Clauses: Sentences and Multiple Relative Clauses

[toinghaeilge]

Copula with the Definite Article

Posts you may like to revisit:

Masterpost: When to use the Copula

All Posts for the Copula

When the classification is indefinite, it comes first:

The doctor is a dog Is madra é an dochtúir

When the classification is definite, the subject comes first:

The doctor is the dog Is é an dochtúir an madra

Try it

Translate these:

1. My mother is the teacher. 2. My mother is a teacher. 3. The fat teacher is my mother.

Hover below for answers

1. Is í mo mháthair an mhúinteoir. 2. Is múinteoir í mo mháthair. 3. Is í an mhúinteoir ramhar mo mháthair.