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“Meitheamh” (‘June’) is another word the second syllable of which is pronounced ‘iv’ rather than’oo’ in Donegal. I asked some native speakers a few years ago about this, but none of them knew why. I thought Lughaidh might have had something to say about it.
You may be suffering from SBS – summer brain syndrome, where the cells are a bit sluggish. ‘Mór’ is a genuine adjective and agrees in gender, number and (usually) case with the noun it qualifies. ‘Uibhe’, however, is a noun functioning adjectivally, i.e., qualifying ‘ceapaire’. For a noun to act as an adjective it has to be in the genitive. ‘Ceapaire ubh’ wouldn’t make sense. Of course, this ‘adjectival noun’ is then subject to the dreaded rules of lenition…☠ï¸
De réir na bhfoclóirí: the military = an t-arm. To join the military = dul san arm
The (armed/defence/military) forces = na fórsaí (armtha/cosanta/míleata).
To join… = dul (isteach) sna fórsaí (armtha/cosanta/míleata).I must admit this expression was new to me due to a serious lack of reading Irish on my part. I looked it up in the dictionaries, and googled around – finding lots of examples including the biblical “Is airi ar an oibri a thuarastal” (fadas not working) – so yes, I agree with you. Could you give the other examples of his apparent misuse of it?
Just to add my agreemen that it should be ‘ní maith liom glaoch air’ (or. of course, ‘ní maith liom bheith ag glaoch air’ depending on context).
Chapter 4
Excerpts from Chapter 4 with possible dialectal variations applied:
Tá mé go iontach maith, buíochas le Dia. [U]Corrections welcomed and appreciated – thanks.
According to the CO, when an adjective is qualified by an adverb – e.g. “measartha , réasúnta, iontach “, “go” is omitted. (I think it applies in all dialects.)
“Tá mé go maith” but “tá mé iontach/measartha (etc) maith”. However, “go” is retained before the prefix “an” (which, of course, isn’t an adverb ): ” Tá mé/táim go han-mhaith”.
Thanks Hugo. Since “iontach” sounds positive, as in “wonderful,” I wonder if “iontach” is only used as a positive intensifier. That is, “iontach maith,” but not “iontach tinn?” Just speculation by this learner.
You can use it in all contexts. We like to keep things simple. 🙂
No hyphen, no lenition: “iontach maith” vs “an-mhaith”. I’m no expert but I think they’re broadly interchangeable. As I said above, “iontach” is more common by far. “An-” can sometimes be used as an intensifier with nouns as well as adjectives – “an-chluiche”,”a great game”- but “iontach” can’t.
i think Ulster speakers may use iontach instead of an- as an intensifier but i’m not sure.
‘Iontach’ is certainly the usual version in Ulster, but “an-” is used too.
1. Should I have introduced the independent clause with the a particle: “Nuair a chuala sé sin, a tháinig fearg air”? (I’ve been almost positive that a doesn’t belong here, but on the other hand I can see that it might be needed if the entire introductory clause is considered to be a modifier of tháinig.)Adding the copula and removing the comma to emphasize the “when-ness”: “Ba nuair a chuala sé sin a tháinig fearg air”.
