possession in the past tense

Fáilte (Welcome) Forums General Discussion (Irish and English) possession in the past tense

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  • #36218
    Aislingeach
    Participant

    My dog had a bone
    Bhí cnámh ag mo ghadhar?

    She had a bone
    Bhí cnáamh aici?

    Are these structurally correct?

    GRMA

    #41561
    Lughaidh
    Participant

    Yes, it works with all tenses 🙂

    #41567
    Aislingeach
    Participant

    Yay! Go me! 🙂 So:

    Bhí cnámh aici/beidh cnámh aici
    She had a bone/she will have a bone

    Bhí brón orm/beidh brón orm
    I was sad/I will be sad

    Bhí grá agam duit/beidh grá agam duit
    I loved you/I will love you

    Bhí orm dul obair/beidh orm dul obair (I think something might be wrong with this?)
    I had to go to work/I will have to go to work

    Yes?

    And could you please explain to me why “I like it” is “Is maith liom” and not “Tá maith liom”? I thought “tá” was used with adjectives.

    GRMA

    #41568
    Lughaidh
    Participant

    Bhí orm dul obair/beidh orm dul obair (I think something might be wrong with this?)
    I had to go to work/I will have to go to work

    Bhì orm dul ag obair (Munster)
    Bhì orm a ghabhàil ag obair (Connachta)
    Bhì orm a ghabhìl a dh’obair (Ulster)

    And could you please explain to me why “I like it” is “Is maith liom” and not “Tá maith liom”? I thought “tá” was used with adjectives.

    yes, but in certain cases, especially in certain set phrases like “is maith le”, you use “is”.

    #41569
    aonghus
    Participant

    An aidiacht maith anseo?

    Is maith/aoibhinn/breá/gráin/fuath liom X.

    #41570
    Marcoman
    Participant

    Is it correct that “is” is used in “is maith liom” because the adjective is just after the verb and before the subject?

    #41571
    aonghus
    Participant

    I believe it is the other way around, i. the adjective must follow the copula in sentences like this, and follow the subject in others.

    i. Is maith liom ceol.
    Tá mé maith go leor ag ceol.
    Duine maith mé.

    One for the mavens.

    #41572
    Lughaidh
    Participant

    The pattern “is + adjective + le + X + Y” means “X considers that Y is “adjective”.
    Is maith liom seaclàid = I consider that chocolate is good, etc.

    Some nouns (fuath, gràin etc) can be used instead of the adjective in the same pattern.

    #41574
    Aislingeach
    Participant

    The pattern “is + adjective + le + X + Y” means “X considers that Y is “adjective”.
    Is maith liom seaclàid = I consider that chocolate is good, etc.

    Some nouns (fuath, gràin etc) can be used instead of the adjective in the same pattern.

    Sweet! I like patterns; they make things seem so much more logical. 🙂 Does this apply only to “le”?

    GRMA!

    #41575
    Cúnla
    Participant

    Does this apply only to “le”?

    —arsa [url=http://www.daltai.com/forums/member/911/]Aislingeach[/url]

    Nope. Cf. also, e.g., ‘ba cheart dom,’ ‘is gá dom,’ ⁊rl. There’s a bunch of such combos around.

    #41576
    Aislingeach
    Participant

    Does this apply only to “le”?

    —arsa [url=http://www.daltai.com/forums/member/911/]Aislingeach[/url]

    Nope. Cf. also, e.g., ‘ba cheart dom,’ ‘is gá dom,’ ⁊rl. There’s a bunch of such combos around.

    Thank you for your input. But now I’m confused again. “Ceart” and “gá” are nouns, are they not? I would expect a noun to follow the copula; that was what sparked my question….

    #41577
    Cúnla
    Participant

    Well, “ceart” is here more adjectival… You can also say ‘ba chirte dom‘ (in the comparative), ⁊rl….

    #41580
    Aislingeach
    Participant

    Hmm…I hadn’t considered it functioning as an adjective there because it wasn’t modifying another noun. But that’s a digression; with regard to adjectives following the copula, I could actually broaden the pattern to “is + adjective + preposition + X + Y” (with the appropriate change in the meaning, of course)?

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