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"do be"

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  • 20-02-2018 10:51am
    #1
    from_atozinc
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,943 ✭✭✭


    I find myself lately using the words "do be"


    I am not an expert, and am useless with tenses etc but to me , it just sounds wrong

    What can I use instead of these words?


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    #2
    Permabear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


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    #3
    Noo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,986 ✭✭✭Noo


    from_atozinc wrote: »
    I find myself lately using the words "do be"


    I am not an expert, and am useless with tenses etc but to me , it just sounds wrong

    What can I use instead of these words?

    Can you give an example of how you use "do be"?


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    #4
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,461 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    As in 'I do be going to the shops on a Friday?'

    I usually go to the shops on a Friday.
    I regularly go to the shops on a Friday.
    etc


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    #5
    Gravelly
    Registered Users Posts: 4,119 ✭✭✭Gravelly


    God that term drives me nuts. I work with an otherwise normal woman that uses it constantly. I cry a little inside every time she says it.


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    #6
    from_atozinc
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,943 ✭✭✭from_atozinc


    Noo wrote: »
    Can you give an example of how you use "do be"?


    I do be on my phone all day, cant put it down


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    #7
    from_atozinc
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,943 ✭✭✭from_atozinc


    Gravelly wrote: »
    God that term drives me nuts. I work with an otherwise normal woman that uses it constantly. I cry a little inside every time she says it.

    can imagine for the people that pay attention to grammar that it is an awful word to hear


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    #8
    LeinsterDub
    Registered Users Posts: 8,229 ✭✭✭LeinsterDub


    Permabear wrote: »
    This post had been deleted.

    Why is it incorrect? It's perfectly acceptable in Ireland and Hiberno-English. One dialect isn't more correct than an other.


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    #9
    Gravelly
    Registered Users Posts: 4,119 ✭✭✭Gravelly


    from_atozinc wrote: »
    can imagine for the people that pay attention to grammar that it is an awful word to hear

    In fairness, I'm not normally a grammar nazi, it's just that term. That and people who say pacific instead of specific.


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    #10
    optogirl
    Registered Users Posts: 2,975 ✭✭✭optogirl


    I know someone who says 'He bes' 'she bes'


    eg: He bes up in the pub most nights :confused:


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    #11
    from_atozinc
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,943 ✭✭✭from_atozinc


    Gravelly wrote: »
    In fairness, I'm not normally a grammar nazi, it's just that term. That and people who say pacific instead of specific.


    I obviously say it.................and to me it just sounds like I am uneducated when I say it


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    #12
    Gravelly
    Registered Users Posts: 4,119 ✭✭✭Gravelly


    optogirl wrote: »
    I know someone who says 'He bes' 'she bes'


    eg: He bes up in the pub most nights :confused:

    :(:(:(


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    #13
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,500 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    Carry over from the Irish sentence structure, most often found near gaeltacht areas.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English#To_be


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    #14
    Noo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,986 ✭✭✭Noo


    from_atozinc wrote: »
    I do be on my phone all day, cant put it down

    I'm on my phone all day, can't put it down.


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    #15
    from_atozinc
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,943 ✭✭✭from_atozinc


    Noo wrote: »
    I'm on my phone all day, can't put it down.


    what cant I say it like this at the time :)


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    #16
    Princess Consuela Bananahammock
    Registered Users Posts: 33,043 ✭✭✭✭Princess Consuela Bananahammock


    Noo wrote: »
    Can you give an example of how you use "do be"?

    It turned out so right...
    For strangers in the night...
    Scooby Do Be Doo...

    Everything I don't like is either woke or fascist - possibly both - pick one.



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    #17
    missmatty
    Registered Users Posts: 1,126 ✭✭✭missmatty


    I'm from the Gaeltacht and it would be used a lot alright. Doesn't make it any easier to hear!


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    #18
    nikkibikki
    Registered Users Posts: 1,226 ✭✭✭nikkibikki


    In our gorgeous native language, we have a tense called An Aimsir Gnath Laithreach. Which translates to the Habitual Present Tense.

    That's where it comes from.

    Edited because the fada's don't come out right on boards app.


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    #19
    Noo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,986 ✭✭✭Noo


    from_atozinc wrote: »
    what cant I say it like this at the time :)

    He does be talking to her everyday = He talks to her everyday

    Its unnecessary.


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    #20
    December2012
    Registered Users Posts: 4,695 ✭✭✭December2012


    Yknow what? I like it!

    To me it makes sense


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    #21
    Princess Consuela Bananahammock
    Registered Users Posts: 33,043 ✭✭✭✭Princess Consuela Bananahammock


    from_atozinc wrote: »
    what cant I say it like this at the time :)

    You clearly have no problem writing it, which is interesting. Most likely habit passed on from parents or the community you grew up in, kinda like slang or an accent.

    Everything I don't like is either woke or fascist - possibly both - pick one.



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    #22
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Agreed that it's colloquial not incorrect and it does be used in the absence of a present continuous tense of any real use in English

    It's a grand flavour, hiberno-english. You wouldn't be without it sure.

    '"be's" is a Donegal usage one, "does be" is more western


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    #23
    Triceratops Ballet
    Registered Users Posts: 4,894 ✭✭✭Triceratops Ballet


    It's a form of continuous present that exists in some languages but not in English. In the switch from Irish to English Irish speakers found it difficult to express the same sentiment in English as they had a specific verb (bí) for that in their own language

    Tá mé anseo - I am here (right now)
    Bím anseo - I am always here/ I am here regularly


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    #24
    Chancer3001
    Registered Users Posts: 5,480 ✭✭✭Chancer3001


    It's a specific tense in the Irish language. It carries over from there.

    Imo it's more accurate than the English equivalent.

    There does be music in that pub

    Contains more information than any English equivalent.

    Closest English equivalent would probably be

    There is music in that pub frequently.


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    #25
    FishOnABike
    Registered Users Posts: 4,374 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    It's part of Hiberno English.

    The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be" has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper or "aimsir láithreach") for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present or "aimsir ghnáthláithreach") for repeated actions. Thus, "you are [now, or generally]" is tá tú, but "you are [repeatedly]" is bíonn tú.

    These linguistic differences should be cherished. They show that different languages are not only different words and grammar but also often reflect a different culture and way of thinking.


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    #26
    colm_mcm
    Registered Users Posts: 73,384 ✭✭✭✭colm_mcm


    EAC6397_A-_BA56-4_CC5-8_C32-81_F5009_AA567.jpg


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    #27
    Cushie Butterfield
    Registered Users Posts: 1,861 ✭✭✭Cushie Butterfield


    When I was in primary school one particular teacher would always say “Mr DoBe, Mrs DoBe & all the little DoBes have been dead & buried for years”, whenever any of us would use the phrase.

    She was so smug when she said it that most of us ended up not saying it any more. So, I suppose her method, as annoying as it was, actually worked.


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    #28
    Triceratops Ballet
    Registered Users Posts: 4,894 ✭✭✭Triceratops Ballet


    FishOnABike wrote: »

    These linguistic differences should be cherished. They show that different languages are not only different words and grammar but also often reflect a different culture and way of thinking.

    I agree, I always find it interesting how a lot of Irish people answer questions with the verb, because that's how it is in Irish

    Will you be there - I will
    Are you sure - I am

    I also read once a suggestion that it is difficult to get Irish people to be definite about something and give straight answers as there are no words that are directly translatable to yes and no in the Irish language. I'd love to read more about this.


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    #29
    Permabear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


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    #30
    FishOnABike
    Registered Users Posts: 4,374 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    Triceratops Ballet wrote: »
    I agree, I always find it interesting how a lot of Irish people answer questions with the verb, because that's how it is in Irish

    Will you be there - I will
    Are you sure - I am

    I also read once a suggestion that it is difficult to get Irish people to be definite about something and give straight answers as there are no words that are directly translatable to yes and no in the Irish language.     I'd love to read more about this.
    It is ;-)


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    #31
    LeinsterDub
    Registered Users Posts: 8,229 ✭✭✭LeinsterDub


    Permabear wrote: »
    This post had been deleted.
    Yes it's informal but so is ain't and ain't ain't incorrect . There is no such thing as a regional dialect just dialects . Some wish to push RP or some other "high dialect" as better than others or as the correct way to speak or write and would even go as far as claiming RP isn't a dialect it's standard English.


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