Cleachtadh
briathra; practice on verbs
Below
are several sentences. Read them aloud or have
someone familiar with the pronunciation of Irish
read them to you, phrase by phrase. Do not translate
them in your mind. Instead, form a mental picture
of the action and of who or what is doing it.
Also, try to form an emotion, such as sympathy,
disappointment, hunger, surprise, joy, etc., about
the activity.
If
you don't understand at the first reading or hearing,
wait a few seconds and then try again. You will
probably retain a few words of the sentence, and
a second reading or hearing will give you more.
Only if you fail after four or five tries should
you look at the key under the sentences.
Dhún
na fir doirse tar éis an chéilí.
Bheadh
sé ina luí roimh a lón, mura
mbeifeá ann.
Ní
ordóidh mé rud ar bith as catalóg
ordú phoist.
An
mbristí mórán soillse sráide
nuair a bhí tú i d'óige,
a athair?
Ná
bailítear airgead ag an gcruinniú
seo.
Nach
gcnagfaidh tú ar an bhfuinneog ar thaobh
eile an tí?
Coimeádaigí
na ceapairí sin, agus gheobhaidh mé
buidéal bainne.
Déarfainn
go mbeadh an fómhar chomh te agus a bhí
sé riamh.
Key:
The
men closed the doors after the céilí.
He would be lying down before his lunch, if you
weren't there.
I
won't order anything out of a mail-order catalog.
Were many street lights broken when you were young,
father?
No
money is to be collected at this meeting (Don't
let money be collected ). Won't you knock on the
window on the other side of the house?
Keep
those sandwiches, and I will get a bottle of milk.
I would say that the autumn would be as hot as
it ever was.
The
word "catalóg" should be obvious
to you. It is a direct borrowing from English.
The following word, "ordú," should
be close enough to "order" in English
to cause you to connect it with "catalóg"
and think of a mail-order catalog, even if you
can not immediately work out the grammar details.
Gráiméar
Nearly
the last important area of Irish that these lessons
have not yet covered is the grouping of sentences
or clauses together in ways that are slightly
more complicated than merely saying "and"
or "but" to join two sentences. Up to
now, these lessons have encouraged you to speak,
and to write and think, in short sentences. This
was done to help you speak and write without overly
long deliberation. By now, you should be able
to reply to someone with an answer that is relevant
to some degree, even if only "Abair arís
é sin, más é do thoil é."
The
relative clause form of which:
Chonaic
mé an buachaill a d'imigh abhaile ar maidin;
I saw the boy who departed for home this morning,
is an example, improves your style in Irish, allowing
you to speak and write better Irish.
Read
these examples over, out loud of course, several
times to understand what is called the nominative
case. Do not bother to learn the grammatical terms
for this, however. Merely learn how to use the
form.
Éisteann
sé leis an múinteoir atá
sa rang eile; he listens to the teacher who is
in the other class.
Chuir
mé ar an mbord an leabhar a thit ar an
urlár; I put on the table the book that
fell on the floor.
Tiománann
Máire an bus a bhuail a seanathair; Mary
drives the bus that hit her grandfather.
Is
é sin an fear a d'ól an cupán
tae tamall ó shin; that's the man who drank
a cup of tea a while ago.
Is
í seo an cailín a dhéanfaidh
an obair; This is the girl who will do the work.
Léim
na daoine a bhí ann thar an mballa; The
people who were there jumped over the wall.
This
should give you a sense of how to form the relative.
The small word (called a particle) that means
"who" or "that" in English
is "a." It causes aspiration in the
verb after it. "The child who cries"
is: An páiste a ghoileann.
In
the present and future tenses, the particle "a"
is followed by the ordinary form of the verb,
with initial letter aspirated if possible:
an
bhean a itheann feoil; the woman who eats meat
an
fear a cheapann é sin; the man who thinks
that
an
dochtúir a dhéanann an obair; the
doctor who does the work
an
traein atá anseo; the train that is here
na
daoine a ólfaidh fíon; the people
who will drink wine
an
ceoltóir a chasfaidh an t-amhrán;
the musician who will sing the song
In
the past, past habitual, and conditional tenses
or moods, the particle "a" is followed
by the form of the verb that you have already
learned, with the "d" preceding vowels
and "f". Here are examples:
an
fear a chaith an liathróid; the man who
threw the ball
an
bhean an d'ól an tae; the woman who drank
the tea
an
dochtúir a d'fhág an scian san oifig;
the doctor who left the knife in the office
na
cailíní a chaitheadh toitíní;
the girls who used to smoke cigarettes
an
madra a d'óladh beoir; the dog that used
to drink beer
an
t-iascaire a d'fhilleadh abhaile go luath; the
fisherman who used to return home early
an
péintéir a gheallfadh é sin;
the painter who would promise that
an
cat a d'ólfadh an t-uisce salach; the cat
who would drink the dirty water
an
bus a d'fhanfadh sa stáisiún; the
bus that would remain in the station
Then,
with "tá," some examples are:
an
t-uachtarán atá breoite; the president
who is sick
an
samhradh a bhí te; the summer that was
hot
an
loch a bhíodh fuar; the lake that used
to be cold
an
bád a bheidh ann; the boat that will be
there
an
léine a bheadh saor; the shirt that would
be cheap
We
will begin practice with this in the next lesson,
but in the meantime try to use this form in your
thinking, speaking, and writing of Irish. Do not
worry about making mistakes in usage. Merely try
to be clear and follow your developing linguistic
instinct.
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