conditional

Alice1

Can someone please tell me the correct conditional word for change - as in "I would change... the coat". I keep getting "ba mhaith liom an cóta a athrú" but this is not quite what I want.

My daughter is doing the Oral Irish exam next week.

Many thanks
Ali

hullaballoo

"Athróinn an cóta."

Níl cead ar Béarla ar bith ar an bhforam Teach na nGealt, agus seolfaidh mé go dtí an foram ceart an snáth seo duit.

hullaballoo

I would add that my Irish is less than perfect at the moment, so await confirmation in the above.

ezra_pound

hullaballoo wrote: »

"Athróinn an cóta."

Níl cead ar Béarla ar bith ar an bhforam Teach na nGealt, agus seolfaidh mé go dtí an foram ceart an snáth seo duit.

Ná déan dearmad AR an "D"- "D'athróinn"

Alice1

hullaballoo agus ezra, go raibh míle maith agaibh.

David Webb

ba mhaith liom an cóta ' athrú -- is a superior form in Irish, because natural Irish idiom is noun- and verbal-noun intensive. Conjugated verb form exist, like d'athróinn, but there are ways round it to use the verbal noun.

For a start, what does "I would change the coat" mean?

'Sé rud a dhéanfadsa ná an cóta ' athrú. (or: an cóta ' dh'athrú).

= "what I would do is change the coat". This is much more likely to be what you're looking for than d'athróinn an cóta, which sounds like translationese.

If "would" means the past and not the conditional, then you don't want the conditional in Irish. "Would" in English can be past habitual = everyday I would get back home from school and would change my clothes and then I eat dinner...

Alice1

Thank you David. I want the conditional tense.

David Webb

Alice, I see. And I have given you future tense above.

I should have said: 'Sé rud a dhéanfainnse ná an cóta ' athrú. (or: an cóta ' dh'athrú).

Do dhéanfainn can be used with any verbal noun.

Do dhéanfainn na rudaí seo ' chur le chéile.

Do dhéanfainn an rud san do thabhairt chúthu.

Do dhéanfainn an rud d'aimsiú.

Is nithe eile mar sin.

David Webb

Sorry about that, Alice. You are quite right: déanfad is future tense. I don't know what I was thinking.

Alice1

Thanks very much. To me, "ba mhaith liom" sounds natural, however, the teacher has told the children they must practise and use the conditional as much as possible.

David Webb

Well the forms for athrú in the conditional tense are:

d'athróinn (pr: daharóinn)
d'athrófá (dahrófá)
d'athródh sé (daharóch sé)
d'athróimís (daharóimís - pronounced with long -mís, although a short -mis might have been found in extinct dialects)
d'athródh sibh (daharóch sibh)
d'athróidís (darahóidís - pronounced with a long -dís, although a short -dis might have been found in extinct dialects)
d'athrófaí or do hathrófaí. (daharófí or do haharófí, with a slender f regardless of the spelling in Munster dialects at any rate)

David Webb

I mean: daharófá, of course

Alice1

You're a star David! Thanks so much