Irish Class, April 6, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 6ú lá mí Aibreáin

At least half the lights in the classroom were out this evening. Casually looking around was no problem, but reading my notes or the fine print in the dictionary was hard. I felt foggy in my head, and made several stupid mistakes. I mentioned this to Wes, and he will try to get it fixed for next time. Just in case, I might bring a small flashlight.

Cleachtadh Aistrithe — Translation Exercise

Lit. “Exercise of translation”

1. A: Did you see that man in the next aisle? Who is he [at
   all]?
   An bhfaca tú an fear sin sa gcéad pasáiste eile? Cé heisean
   ar chor ar bith?

   sa gcéad pasáiste eile	in the next (“first other”) aisle	Cois. C.O. chead
   taobhrionn	aisle	[in a church]
   heisean ← eisean	he	emphatic. “object” form.
   an fear sin	that man
   ar chor ar bith	at all	(Normal Irish construction)

   “Object” forms are the base

   heisean	is eisean → seisean	he
   hise	is ise → sise	she
   hé	is é → sé	he
   hí	is í → sí	she

2. B: I don’t know. I don’t know him.
   Níl fhios agam. Níl
   aithne agam air.

   aithne	knowledge, familiarity
   Níl aithne agam air.	I don’t have knowledge about (on) him.

3. A: He looks toward us when he thinks we can’t see
   him.
   Féachann sé chugainn nuair a cheapann sé nárbh fhéidir linn é
   a fheiceáil.

   Féach	look	C.O. here
   Breathnaigh	observe, watch	Cois. here
   chugainn	toward us	chuig
   ceap
   nuair ← an uair	when	an uair “the time”
   narbh fhéidir le X	X would not be able to
   feiceáil	seeing	vn of feic

   Alternate translation, from Wes’s notes: Féachann
   sé orainn, nuair a síleann sé nach bhfuil muid ábalta a fheiceáil.

4. B: He has been everywhere I’ve gone today.
   Bhí sé i ngach áit a chuaigh mé inniu.

   <!–

   –>

5. A: Are you following him?
   An bhfuil tú ag
   leanúint é?
   An bhfuil tú á leanúnt?

   á leanunt	for his following	vn of lean

The last line is an example of a special construction for the case
of

Tá + verbal noun + pronoun object

instead of forms like the one crossed out above. Again from Wes’s
notes:

Important: All of this applies only to simple uses of
bí, not to modal contructs like “Tá orm….”

<!–

–>

We ended with a few rounds of the question and answer game of “Céard atá istigh i do Chuisneoir?” (“What is in your
refrigerator?”)