Irish: Lesson Nine
Past Tense
The method of forming the past tense is the same for both conjugations
of verbs. To form a positive past tense we simply aspirate the root where
possible:
| root |
past tense |
Example: |
| pós (marry) |
-phós |
-Phós sé a leannán. (He married his sweetheart.) |
| críochnaigh (finish) |
-chríochnaigh |
-Chríochnaigh sí a leabhar. (She finished her book.) |
| cuir (send) |
chuir |
-Chuir mé litir abhaile. (I sent a letter home.) |
| buail le (meet) |
-bhuail le |
-Bhuail sí le Liam. (She met Liam.) |
| tóg (build) |
-thóg |
- Thóg siad teach ann. (They built a house there.) |
| ceannaigh (buy) |
-cheannaigh |
-Cheannaigh mé carr nua. (I bought a new car.) |
Roots that begin with a vowel take "d'" (d followed by an apostrophe)
in the past tense, as do roots beginning with "f":
| root |
past tense |
Example: |
| ól (drink) |
d'ól |
D'ól muid fíon. (We drank wine.) |
| ith (eat) |
d'ith |
D'ith siad dinnéar. (They ate dinner.) |
| imigh (leave) |
d'imigh |
D'imigh Seán go luath. (Sean left early.) |
| fan (stay) |
d'fhan |
D'fhan sí i mBaile Átha Cliath. (She stayed in Dublin.) |
| féach ar (look at) |
d'fhéach ar |
D'fhéach siad orm. (They looked at me.) |
Naturally, roots that begin with an unaspirable consonant (l, n, r)
remain unchanged:
| root |
past tense |
Example: |
| léamh (read) |
léamh |
Léamh mé leabhar le hÓ Grianna. (I read a book
by O Grianna.) |
| roinn (divided) |
roinn |
Roinn sí an t-airgead. (She divided the money.) |
A question in the past tense is asked with the aspirating word "ar"
(not to be confused with "ar" meaning "on"):
| root |
-- |
Example: |
| Bhuail mé leis. |
-- |
I met him. |
| Ar bhuail tú leis? |
-- |
Did you meet him? |
| Chuir sé an litir. |
-- |
He sent the letter. |
| Ar chuir sé an litir? |
-- |
Did he send the letter? |
A negative answer to the above questions, or just a negative statement
in general, uses the aspirating word "níor":
| Níor bhuail mé leis. |
-- |
I didn't meet him. |
| Níor chuir sé an litir. |
-- |
He didn't send the letter. [etc.] |
Negative questions, which in the present tense are asked with the eclipsing
word "nach", are asked in the past tense with the aspirating word "nár":
| Nach dtuigeann tú an ceacht? |
-- |
Don't you understand the lesson? |
| --> Nár thuig tú an ceacht? |
-- |
Didn't you understand the lesson? |
| Nach gcuireann sé an solas as? |
-- |
Doesn't he put out the light? |
| --> Nár chuireann sé an solas as? |
-- |
Didn't he put out the light? (cuir as, "put out") |
As well as corresponding to the simple past tense in English, the past
tense in Irish can cover some of the ground of the English "perfect" tense,
i.e. the tense that says things like "I have done", "he has written", "you
have stopped", etc. Irish does have a perfect tense of its own (which we'll
learn later) but its scope appears to be a little more narrow.
Dialectical Variation
In the examples above, I gave the first person plural form of the past
tense as the aspirated root followed by "muid", e.g. "chuir muid", "thóg
muid", etc. This is the way it is formed in the dialects of Connacht and
Ulster. However, the Official Standard ("Caighdeán Oifigiúil")
of Irish follows the Munster habit of aspirating the root and adding "amar"
(or "eamar" if the last vowel in the root is an "i") to form the first
person plural of the past tense. For example, "phós muid" (we married)
would be "phósamar" in Standard Irish, and "chuir muid" (we put)
would be "cuireamar". Like "tuigim" or "molaimid" (present tense forms
we learned last lesson), words ending in "-eamar" are known as synthetic,
which means that they are a combined form of verb and pronoun and so don't
need to be followed by a pronoun.
Future Tense
Unlike the past tense, the future tense of a verb is determined by which
conjugation it belongs to. Recall that a first conjugation verb has a one-syllable
root, while a second conjugation verb has a two-syllable root ending in
"-(a)igh".
i) 1st Conjugation Future
As with the present tense these roots are divided according to whether
or not they have "i" as their final vowel:
| Root: mol |
"praise" |
Root: bris |
"break" |
| molfaidh mé |
-- I will praise |
brisfidh mé |
-- I will break |
| molfaidh tú |
-- you will praise |
brisfidh tú |
-- you will break |
| molfaidh sé |
-- he will praise |
brisfidh sé |
-- he will break |
| molfaidh sí |
-- she will praise |
brisfidh sí |
-- she will break |
| molfaidh muid |
-- we will praise |
brisfidh muid |
-- we will break |
| molfaidh sibh |
-- you will praise |
brisfidh sibh |
-- you will break |
| molfaidh siad |
-- they will praise |
brisfidh siad |
-- they will break |
Conveniently enough, the forms are always the same for each verb. But
you'll sometimes see "molfaimid" and "brisfimid" instead of "molfaidh muid"
and "brisfidh muid", respectively.
ii) 2nd Conjugation Future
These too are divided into roots whose last vowel is "i" and those whose
isn't, but in this tense instead of adding future tense endings to the
root (like "fidh" and "faidh" above), the "-(a)igh" is taken off the verb
before the endings are added:
| Root: beannaigh |
"bless" |
Root: bailigh |
"gather" |
| beannóidh mé |
-- I will bless |
baileoidh mé |
-- I will gather |
| beannóidh tú |
-- you will bless |
baileoidh tú |
-- you will gather |
| beannóidh sé |
-- he will bless |
baileoidh sé |
-- he will gather |
| beannóidh sí |
-- she will bless |
baileoidh sí |
-- she will gather |
| beannóidh muid |
-- we will bless |
baileoidh muid |
-- we will gather |
| beannóidh sibh |
-- you will bless |
baileoidh sibh |
-- you will gather |
| beannóidh siad |
-- they will bless |
baileoidh siad |
-- they will gather |
So in this conjugation, the future tense is formed by dropping the "-(a)igh"
and adding "óidh" (or "eoidh" if the last vowel in the root is "i").
The first person plural variants of "beannóidh muid" and "baileoidh
muid" are "beannóimid" and "baileoimid", respectively.
A future tense question is asked using the eclipsing word "an", and
the negative future tense is created using the aspirating word "ní":
| Root: |
ceannaigh |
"buy" |
| --> |
ceannóidh sé |
"he will buy". |
| Question: |
An gceannóidh sé an leabhar? |
-- Will he buy the book? |
| Answer: |
Ní cheannóidh sé an leabhar. |
-- He won't buy the book. |
| Root: |
tuig |
"understand" |
| --> |
tuigfidh tú |
"you will understand". |
| Question: |
An dtuigfidh tú an cheist? |
--Will you understand the question? |
| Answer: |
Ní thuigfidh mé an cheist. |
--I won't understand the question. |
| Root: |
bailigh, |
"gather" |
| --> |
baileoidh siad, |
"they will gather" |
| Question: |
An mbaileoidh siad connadh? |
-- Will they gather firewood? |
| Answer: |
Ní bhaileoidh siad connadh. |
-- They won't gather firewood. |
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