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I’d go along with that, based largely on my knowledge of Scottish Gaelic where ‘Tha litir air a cur’ = A letter has been sent; ‘bidh e air a dhèanamh’ = It will be done. The ‘a’ of course in the pronominal possessive. In fact the use of ‘air + verbal noun’ in SG has largely taken over the work of the past participle which is becoming increasingly obsolete except in a few phrases and uses like ‘toilichte’=pleased.
A W-F-M, your expert knowledge of the grammar has cleared up that small problem. The varied endings to verbs are a thing that has largely disappeared altogether in the dialects of Scottish Gaelic that I learnt. But despite their complexity, I still prefer the Munster richness and – though I have no right to say so – I’d probably prefer the old spelling too!
Séadna will have to be dealt with once I reach the other bank of the mighty river of TYI. My text is an edition of 1910 in the old script but at present I would have to look up too many words to enjoy it. I might try a few easier books first.
We learners need lots of reinforcement. I can see I shall need to work through both Nancy Stenson’s books to tighten up my grammar unless you know of better. And they would help with my vocabulary as well – or are there better sources?Bruce
For what it’s worth I have now come across a statement of grammar in TYI, but hidden in a footnote on page 20 among all the other countless rules on mutations. It says there that ‘le’ takes ‘n-‘ with ól and ithe. I wonder whether there is some historical reason for this – confined as it is to these two common verb-forms.
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!
A Sheáinín,
all is now very clear thanks to this perfectly transparent summary that you gave. Many thanks.
At least I am spared learning the Past Subjunctive until much later in the book – and even then I wonder whether má or dá ever link up with it in modern Irish.Táim an-bhuidheach dhíot, a Lughaidh.
Conditional Clauses always seem to be the most arcane parts of grammar in any language and the unclear explanation in TYI made me feel very small! Your clear chart has set my mind at rest and my steps more confidently towards learning this chapter. Bail ó Dhia ort!A Sheáinín, thank you for this excellent grammar quotation. I’ve just reached chapter 16 of Dillon & Ó Cróinín’s ‘Teach Yourself Irish’ where the going gets tough! I understand fully when má and dá are used. But I then meet this convoluted sentence that makes no sense to me. It’s about má with the Copula. And I quote it with punctuation exactly as printed:-
“The negative forms are present marar, maran, past and conditional marar before consonants; and present marab, past and conditional marabh before vowels.”
The four little examples they give don’t answer the question that I have – do marar, maran, marab all have the same use? Is the only difference that marar is used before consonants, and marabh before vowels? If this is so, when is maran used?
The answer is probably staring me in the face but I don’t see it and would really like an expert answer before trying the long exercises on these Conditional Clauses.
Pimsleur was my starting point also, having gone all the way through their superb Italian course. The Irish lessons are beautifully clear and consistent, in that the speakers are native to the Munster area. Let us hope that Simon & Schuster extend the course. Even in the short form, it gives any learner wonderful confidence and a desire to learn more.
Many thanks for your replies. All becomes clearer now & I might encounter that exercise in ‘Progress’ with more work. But it’s also reassuring to see that there are little ‘blips’ in the text too which a second edition might have ironed out. I’m still searching Gerald O’Nolan’s grammar for more information on that ‘n’.
A Aislingeach, GRMA.
My index grows apace, while the computer sorts out the many entries.
I wonder therefore whether you, or anyone else, therefore can explain this sentence:
Give them that buttermilk to drink – Tabhair an bhláthach san le n-ól dóibh [TYI Chapter 15]
As expected but what’s with the ‘n’ in ‘n-ól’? Why is this added or is it there for spoken euphony: I am too ignorant to work this one out. Can you help?
BruceI am wholly in agreement with all the enthusiasts on this Post for TYI and Dillon & ó Cróinín. I have just embarked on Chapter 15 (of 27). It seems to me that one serious requirement for the learner is to make for her/himself a thorough index of every point raised in the course of the book. Each chapter is crammed with items of grammar and of the Munster Dialect which need constant revision: I found it annoying to search through previous chapters to check out the small instances where my Irish version does not measure up to the key answers; and that of course goes for re-translating all Irish-English exercises as well.
A really full index will also help when the authors use words, expressions and sometimes grammatical idioms that do not appear until later in the book such as ‘thánag’, ‘mar gheall air’ etc.
Has anyone spotted any errors in the book? I have met at least one sentence in the back which seems impossible to reconcile with the rules clearly set out in the relevant chapter.
But this is otherwise a wonderful book and I look forward in a few months to reading Séadna and Fiche Blian ag Fás.
