The Learning Irish/General Queries Thread.

When do you use (h)aon, amháin, ceann, céad?

Do you know when to use "Ar" instead of "Ag" for "at"?, for example:

Ar scoil - At school

Tá sé ar mo chumas.......

Níl sé ar mo chumas.....

Tá sé ar mo chumas é a dhéanamh. I can (have the ability) to do it.

Níl sé ar mo chumas é a dhéanamh. I can't (don't have the ability) to do it.

turnikett1 wrote: »

Here's something that I've never figured out. I can never seem to understand what the infinitive for verbs are, when in use in a sentence. Let me try to explain myself.

For example, in English. "I want to see him", "I like to eat". Or in French, "j'aime lire", "je peux le voir". In both these examples there is a set pattern for every verb that indicate it's infintive (to + verb in English, verb+er/ir/re in French).

But when I look up verbs in Irish I don't seem to get this. Instead, I get the root word that you conjugate, for example, déan, cuir, feic, fág, etc, yet my understanding is that you wouldn't use these in the type of sentences above. You would say "an bhfuil aon rud a dhéanamh?", or "an bhfuil aon rud a feicáil?" The only reason I know these is because I just know them, it's how I learned it.

Is there a set pattern for using the infinitive? Or do you just have to learn them along with the verb? And if so why don't dictionaries ever tell you what they are!? Hope I'm explaining myself clearly...

Well of what I have seen, you can use the infinitive of a verb (ordú in this case since Irish verbs don't have infinitives). For example,

Bí ag scríobh - Be writing
Tóg amach - Take out

However, if the verb (that you use the infinitive for in English) is not the first word of a sentence or phrase, you use the verbal noun form (without "ag" of course).

Chuaigh mé go dtí an chistin chun mo bhricfeasta a dhéanamh - I went to the kitchen to do my breakfast
Is léir go bhfuil an téama seo le feiceáil - It is clear that this theme is to be seen
An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithris? - Can I go to the toilet?

If you say "that" (or just infinitive) and an infinitive of a verb or a verb form without a pronoun or subject in English, in Irish, you say "a" followed by the verbal noun form of the Irish verb. Another example:

Gheall siad ticéid a cheannach don cheolchoirm eile - They promised to buy tickets for the next concert

If you say "to be" and an infinitive of a verb in English, in Irish, you say "le" followed by the verbal noun form of the Irish verb. Another example:

Bhí neart duiseanna le buaite - There were plenty of prizes to be won

I hope that this makes any sense to you?

Thank you, all these little things really help. It's amazing what even just a few hours work can do! It's all coming back to me now, all those memories of being bored out of my mind at school with the faint drone of my teacher explaining something in Irish ("how many times do I have to tell ye CAOL LE CAOL AGUS LEATHAN LE LEATHAN!?")

The conjunctions that I'd really like to know more about are those that introduce a new clause, such as whose, in which, that, etc. But from what I've learned it's simply "a+verb" (an doras a dhún sé?), correct? Or "go" in my dialect (Munster) (an leabhar go raibh i mo teach?). This changes though depending on whether it's negative or a question, correct? I actually have no idea, I'm just piecing together what comes from my non-Irish speaking brain.

Nualeargais.ie is great by the way. Very full on in terms of it's terminology for explaining grammar, but extremely valuable nonetheless. I'm learning so quick it's kind of stunned me If I've learned this much in a few weeks I wonder where I'll be in a few months!? Especially when I'm back in Ireland practising it with all my Gaelgeoirí friends!

Another question: Any good audio/video resources for learning Irish? There is of course TG4 and RnaG, but the former tends to have things subbed in English whereas I feel I'd learn a lot better if it was in Irish, and the latter, well, I'm simply not able to understand detailed conversation without context just yet.

Cheers!

NCW feen wrote: »

An bhfuil difríocht ar bith idir na briathra ceap agus smaoinigh agus cad faoi braith agus mothaigh ?

Ceap is more of a vague type of thinking.

E.g. Cheap mé go raibh tú sa teach. - I thought that you were in the house.

Smaoinigh implies in other situations of "to think" that aren't really necessarily "vague".

E.g. Smaoinigh mé ar a ainm - I thought of his name (or... Smaoinigh mé ar chleas - I thought of an idea)

^ It's very hard to explain these but this is the closest I could do.

Meanwhile, about Braith and Mothaigh.

Braith is used in situations where you feel something like "pain". Therefore, it is used transitively (i.e. with an object). It cannot be used without a mentioned object.

Mothaigh can be used with a mentioned object AND without an object.

I'm sorry if this is too confusing for you!

Córas oideachais oifigiúla

nó

Córas oideachas oifigiúla

Cheapfainn go raibh an chéad cheann ceart, ach léigh mé an píosa seo a leanas:

"The form of the genitive is not used: when two nouns in the genitive directly follow one another, to avoid a double genitive. Instead the first is lenited in the nominative and only the second is in the genitive. This is the so-called "functional genitive", the first noun is "functional" in genitive relation, but keeps the nominative form and is lenited." (Foinse)

Níl a fhios agam = I don't know it; I don't know about it.


Níl fhios agam = I don't know.

Little or no difference in practice.

When you say "Of" with a possessive pronoun in English, do you not say it in Irish? For example,

Love of my life - Grá mo shaol

^ Is this correct?

feargale wrote: »

It should read "mo shaoil. The genitive case with few exceptions causes a change in the form of the noun.

"De" for of is used only in rare cases.

Oh yeah but, do you just do it as:

Noun + Possessive pronoun + Noun?

Or do you put "De" in it?