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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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