Irish Class, September 8, 2008

Irish Class, September 8, 2008

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Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ

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Our new instructor is Wes Koster.

Predictably, we started with:

Céard a rinne sibh ar feadh an tsamhraidh?
What did you do during the summer?

Céard a rinne sibh na laethanta saoire?
What did you do in the free days

When my turn came, I answered the second question, only exaggerating slightly:

Ní raibh laethanta saoire agam. Bhí mé an gnotach san oifig.
I did not have
free days. I was very busy in the office.

ollscoil	university (f2)
rud ar bith	nothing at all, nada
bain	extract
sult	enjoyment
Ar bhain tú sult as sin?	Did you enjoy that?
foghlaim	learn
D’fhoglaim mé go leor.	I learned a lot. [Note: foghlaim is the root/imperative, not a synthetic 1st person singular
clós	yard
iascaireacht	fishing [f3]
ríomhaire	computer

What’s the date? Inniu (today). An Luan (Monday).<g>

Tá an dáta inniu an ochtú (8ú) lá mí Mheán Fómhair.
The date today is the eighth day of the
month of September.

mí	month. Gen.míosa
fómhar	autumn, fall
Meán Fómhair	September

Mí and lá are feminine nouns.

2008: dhá mhíle (‘s a) hocht. ‘s a (=agus a) is often omitted.

1998: naoi déag nócha (´s a) hocht

Conditional

Céard atá tú ag déanamh?
What are you doing?

now

Céard a bheadh tú má chuireach sé sneachta amárach?
What
would you do if it snowed tomorrow?

• bheadh pronounced /v´a:x/
• chuireadh: Conditional of cuir “put”.
  Pronounced /xur’əx/ when followed by sé/sí/siad,
  otherwise /xur’ət/

Cad a thabharfá?
What would you bring?
[Synthetic form–no tú]

Start with the past tense (at least formally):
ól “drink” → d’ól
Then add the appropriate ending, Most irregular verbs also use these
endings.

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The following tables are Caighdeán. Cois Farraige is much simpler. I think it is simply
-f(e)adh mé/tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad.

Type I verbs (and some irregulars)

-f(a)inn

-f(e)á

-f(e)adh sé/sí

-f(a)imis

-f(e)adh sibh

-f(a)idís

the -f- is silent.

bí “be” bheinn I would be bhifeá You would be bheadh sé/sí He/she would be bheimis We would be bheadh sibh Y’all would be bheidís They would be bheifí One would be [aut.?]

bris “break” bhrisfinn I would break bhrisfeá You would break bhrisfeadh sé/sí He/she would break bhrisfaimis We would break bhrisfeadh sibh Y’all would break bhrisfidís They would break bhrisfí One would break [aut.?]

sábháil “save” shábhálfainn I would save shábhálfá You would save shábhálfadh sé/sí He/she would save shábhálfaimis We would save shábhálfadh sibh Y’all would save shábhálfaidís They would save shábhálfaí One would save [aut.?]

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má	if (something possible)
dá	if (something impossible). Pron. /γa:/

For more on the conditional see Progress in Irish,
Chapters 38-39.

Irish and Scottish Gaelic: “All fadas point to the Irish Sea.” (Not
strictly true, SG, especially in older works, sometimes has an acute
accent for stress)

Dialect: Wes (following Mary and Nancy) leans strongly to Cois
Farraige

• Different mutations, e.g. sa ngairdin rather than
  sa ghairdin.

• Most synthetic forms of verbs are dropped.
• The number 40: ceathracha vs. daichead.

The copula

Is leabhar nua é. “It is a new book.” The copula is an
equation:
It = new book. In Irish, the verb comes first: {=}{it}{new book}. At this point our
newest student mentioned that this was like the programming language Prolog, and I commented that this
is known in Computer Science as “Polish” notation, to the amusement of the other students.

Contrast Tá an leabhar nua. “The book is new.”

Past tense: Ba.

Two forms

• Indefinite:
  Is bóthar fada é. “It is a long road.”

• Definite:
  Is é an bóthar fada,…. “It is the long road, that ….”

áit /a:t/	place
ait = aisteach /at/	strange
cineál	kind, sort, kind of
Tá sé cineál aisteach.	He is kind of strange.
go deimhiú	really

A couple odd plurals

ceann → cinn /k’i:n’/	head
peann → pinn /p’i:n’/

Wes mentioned some common contractions in speech (Also in Basics)

Tá a fhios agam.	I know.	/ta: sam/
Níl a fhios agam.	I don’t know.	/ni:ləsam/
Diabhal a fhios agam.	The devil if I know (I really don’t know).	/di:əvələsam/

Texting abbreviation:
brb ← “be right back”(wait a while) = fan go fóill → fgf
Cén Ghaeilge atá ar “WTF?”