I need some help with what I presume is conjugation

[hildegardh]

I’m using Rosetta Stone to learn Irish. While I think it’s a good product and I’ve learned a lot I’m having problems with the meaning following:
Aige
Aici
Acu
Agam
Agaibh
Againn

It would help to know the meaning to better understand!

Thank you for your help!

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

ag – at

agam – at me
agat – at you
aige – at him
aici – at her

againn – at us
agaibh – at you all (plural)
acu – at them

[eadaoin]

“ag” used in various ways ..

Tá XX agam = I have a XX .. etc

eadaoin

[Seáinín]

In most English-language grammars for Irish these are referred to as “prepositional pronouns”. Here’s a Daltaí page that gives lots of good examples: http://www.daltai.com/grammar/prepositional-pronouns/.

Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat, a Hildegardh!

[hildegardh]

Thank you so much for all your help.

[hildegardh]

Hello again,

Since Rosetta Stone does not give any translations but lets one figure things out based on pictures shown, I do seem to need some additional help. Thank you in advance for all and any help.

What do the following mean:

An dath
An páiste/Tá na páistí
An duine fásta/Tá na daoine fásta
Mná – women?
Tá
Siad – them?

I know úll means apple and arán means bread but what form of the words is t-t-úll and t-arán. Is this (t-) applied only to certain nouns? If so why?
Úill
Uibhe vs uibheacha – eggs? why are there two different forms?
Tá uisce aige. Tá sé ag ól – He has water? He is drinking?
Ceapairí – sandwiches?
Tá sé ina chodladh – He is sleeping?
Tá sí ina codladh – She is sleeping?
Tá siad ina gcodladh – They are sleeping?
Cad é seo?
Bhfuil

[Labhrás]

Hello again,

Since Rosetta Stone does not give any translations but lets one figure things out based on pictures shown, I do seem to need some additional help. Thank you in advance for all and any help.

What do the following mean:

An dath = the color
An páiste/Tá na páistí = the child/the children are
An duine fásta/Tá na daoine fásta = the adult person/ the adult persons are
Mná – women? Yes.
Tá = Is/are
Siad – them? Yes.

I know úll means apple and arán means bread but what form of the words is t-t-úll and t-arán. Is this (t-) applied only to certain nouns? If so why?

an t-úll = the apple, an t-arán = the bread. The t- is due to the article, actually a part of the article. It is applied to masculine nouns beginning with a vowel.

Úill = apples or of an apple.
Uibhe vs uibheacha – eggs? why are there two different forms?
Because different forms are used. Uibheacha usual plural, uibhe plural used with numbers (and it is genitive: of an egg), e.g. na huibheacha = the eggs, trí huibhe = three eggs.
Tá uisce aige. Tá sé ag ól – He has water? He is drinking? Yes.
Ceapairí – sandwiches? Yes.
Tá sé ina chodladh – He is sleeping? Yes.
Tá sí ina codladh – She is sleeping? Yes.
Tá siad ina gcodladh – They are sleeping? Yes.
Cad é seo? = What’s this?
Bhfuil = Is/are (in questions, following go or nach etc.[)/i]

[eadaoin]

Tá na páistí = the children are
Tá na daoine fásta = the adult people are

these are statements – not questions …..
(in Irish the verb comes before the subject …)

[hildegardh]

an t-úll = the apple, an t-arán = the bread. The t- is due to the article, actually a part of the article.

What do you mean “part of the article?”

úll = apple
an t-úll = the appleTá siad ag ithe úll = they are eating apple(s)? This appears to be the singular of apple?
An bhfuil sé ag ithe úill = Is he eating an apple/apples?

So….

arán = bread
an t-arán = the bread
Tá an calinín ag ithe aráin = The girl is eating bread?

rís = rice
Tá an an fear agus an bhan ag ithe ríse (plural)/Tá sé ag ithe ríse?

An gluaisteán = a car or the car?

Ag tiomáint = to drive?

Tá sé ag tiomáint guaisteáin = He is driving the car?

An nuachtán = a newspaper or the newspaper

Tá siad ad léamh nuachtáin (plural)?

Uibhe vs uibheacha – eggs? why are there two different forms?

Because different forms are used. Uibheacha usual plural, uibhe plural used with numbers (and it is genitive: of an egg), e.g.
na huibheacha = the eggs, trí huibhe = three eggs.

So….
Tá an fear ag ithe uibhe./Tá siad an ithe uibheacha. = The man is eating eggs/They are eating eggs

[eadaoin]

just to complicate life ….

after “ag” e.g. “ag leamh”, “ag ithe” etc, the genitive is used (he is eating of an egg, I am reading of a newspaper)

so aráin is genitive of arán, nuachtáin of nuachtán, gluaisteáin of gluaisteán

ríse must be genitive of rís (never met this, but it looks like a genitive)

uibhe is genitive singular and nominative plural of “ubh” (had to check that in the dictionary!) I suppose uibheacha must be the gen. pl.

eadaoin

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

Just letting you know:

ubh is masculine in Munster:
ubh – egg, an egg
an t-ubh – the egg

uibhe is the plural form of “eggs” (and of course, the genitive singular) in Munster:
na huibhe – the eggs
Itheann sé uibhe gach lá. – He eats eggs every day.

Apparently, they say uibheacha in other places; I just wanted to let you know that this kind of thing can vary according to dialect.

[Héilics Órbhuí]

uibheacha is the plural (both nominative and genitive) in some dialects (I think most forms of Connacht). “uibhe” is the standard plural and also the special counting plural.

Note that what at least one person above said about nouns following the verbal noun (ag ithe, ag ól, etc.) is true in certain cases but not true in others. The actual rules that govern this are somewhat complicated. Generally speaking, you will see the following noun be in the genitive if it is unqualified, i.e. if it is not followed by an adjective (i.e. ag ithe úill = eating an apple, but ag ithe úll mór = eating a big apple) or if it is itself another verbal noun. At this point I would really not worry too much about the intricacies of this but I figured it was worth mentioning.

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