Dob

[Bruce]

I am working through TYI – the old [=better] version with much happiness.
In lesson 8 we are introduced to such expressions as ‘bó mhaith dob ea sí sin’ with the note that ‘dob(the particle do and b’)’ is the past form of the copula in this position. And in lesson 10 we have descriptive expressions such as ‘dochtúir maith dob ea é’ and ‘tigh mór dob ea é’ and ‘crann mór ard dob ea é’.
But I have now reached lesson 17 where we find:-
‘Sin é dob áil liom do rá’ = That is what I wanted to say. I am a bit unsure how ‘dob’ fits in here. My instinct is to think here that it means something like ‘which equalled the desire I had’. Is this vaguely right? And it’s not ‘dob ea’?
Later in the book I’ve noticed that ‘dob’ is used as the first word in sentences like: ‘Dob ionadh leis’ = He wondered. I would have just written b’ instead: so is this another use, perhaps typical of the Munster dialect?
And I haven’t ventured into the mysteries of Relative Clauses in depth but my eye has caught such things as ‘Buachaill gurbh ainm do Sean Ó Donnabhain dob é an scoláire ab fhear sa rang é.’ Here too I would have written b’ if I didn’t know any better.
All the grammars I’ve consulted seem oblivious of ‘dob’ and even FGB just says ‘= ba, b’. Please, has anyone a simple explanation of ‘dob’ for a tentative learner?

[Labhrás]

present -> past
is ea -> dob ea (= ba ea, b’ea, ab ea)
is áil liom -> dob áil liom (= b’áil, ab áil)
is ionadh leis -> dob ionadh leis (b’ionadh, ab ionadh)

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

dob and b’ are the same thing – dob is used in Munster but not in standard Irish.

[Bruce]

Thanks indeed: all is clear. Well that solves that mystery. Now back to work on Chapter 17!

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

Well, you’ve made it through the dreaded Lesson 16 (which is by far the hardest part of the book), so now you’ve got it made 🙂

[Bruce]

Yes, Chapter 16 is the make-or-break test. My corrections on its very long exercises used up quite a lot of red ink; and it will all have to be done again when I get round to revision. But your words give me comfort that the rest of this champion teaching is not quite so hard. And from a downloaded copy on the computer, you can quickly find the words and phrases that they use in exercises but a couple of chapters before they tell you what the words mean!

[Aislingeach]

Cheery thoughts for someone just starting Lesson 2. I foresee a serious spike in my post count…..

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

Anyone who is able to work their way through Teach Yourself Irish, can do pretty much anything – Hang in there! :cheese:

[Aislingeach]

GRMA, a WFM. I won’t quit; it seems I’ve never quite grasped that concept. In fact, if I had a nickel for every time someone said to me “Oh, just give it up already!” I could hire an Irish tutor! 🙂

[Author]

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