Appendix:Irish irregular verbs

There are only eleven^[1] irregular verbs in Modern Irish: abair, beir, bí, clois, déan, ith, faigh, feic, tabhair, tar, téigh.

Summary of irregular stems

abair: deir, dúr, déar; rá
beir: rug, béar; breith
bí: tá, fuil, rabh, bei; bheith
clois: chuala
déan: rinne, dearna
faigh: fuair, gheobh
feic: chonaic, fac
ith: íos
tabhair: tug, tabhar
tar: tag, tháng, tioc; teacht
téigh: té, chua, deach, rach; dul

Moods and tenses of irregular stems

One verb (bí) has a distinct indicative present independent stem (tá).^[2]
One verb (bí) has a distinct indicative present dependent stem (fuil).
Four verbs (bí, déan, feic, téigh) have distinct indicative past dependent stems
Six verbs (abair, bí, déan, faigh, feic, téigh) take non-preterite preverbal particles (ní instead of níor etc.) in the indicative past.
Three verbs (abair, beir, tabhair) are broadened in the indicative future and conditional.
One verb (faigh) has a distinct independent form in the indicative future and conditional (gheobh‑).
Six verbs (bí, clois, faigh, feic, tar, téigh) have past autonomous -thas. The stem is broadened where necessary. All except faigh are lenitied (e.g., bhíothas, but fuarthas).
Three verbs (abair, tar, téigh) have distinct verbal noun stems (rá, teacht, dul).

Table of irregular stems

This table highlights all the irregular stems of the eleven irregular Irish verbs.

Moods and tenses ^{[s 1]}			abair ^{[s 2]}	beir	bí	clois	déan	faigh	feic	ith	tabhair	tar	téigh
Indicative	present	indep	deir ^{[s 3]}		tá ^{[s 4]}						tug	tag	té ^{[s 5]}
	present	dep	deir ^{[s 3]}		fuil ^{[s 6]}^{[s 7]}^{[s 8]}						tug	tag	té ^{[s 5]}
	pres habitual		deir								tug	tag	té
	past	indep	dúr ^{[s 9]}	rug		chuala	rinne	fuair ^{[s 10]}	chonaic ^{[s 10]}		thug	tháng ^{[s 11]}	chua ^{[s 12]}
	past	dep ^{[s 13]}	ní dúr	rug	ní rabh ^{[s 14]}	chuala	ní dhearna	ní bhfuair ^{[s 15]}	ní fhaca		thug	tháng ^{[s 11]}	ní dheach
	past habitual		deir								thug	thag	thé
	future	indep	déar	béar	bei			gheobh ^{[s 16]}^{[s 17]}		íos	tabhar	tioc	rach ^{[s 17]}
	future	dep	déar	béar	bei			faigh ^{[s 17]}^{[s 18]}		íos	tabhar	tioc	rach ^{[s 17]}
Conditional		indep	déar	béar	bei ^{[s 19]}			gheobh ^{[s 17]}		íos	tabhar	tioc	rach ^{[s 17]}
Conditional		dep	déar	béar	bei ^{[s 19]}			faigh ^{[s 17]}^{[s 18]}		íos	tabhar	tioc	rach ^{[s 17]}
Subjunctive	present		deir		rabh						tug	tag	té ^{[s 20]}
Subjunctive	past		deir		bei ^{[s 21]}						tug	tag	té
Imperative ^{[s 22]}
Verbal noun ^{[s 23]}			rá	breith	bheith	cloisteáil	déanamh	fáil ^{[s 24]}	feiceáil	ithe	tabhairt	teacht	dul
Past participle			ráite	breithe		cloiste	déanta	fáilte	feicthe	ite	tugtha	tagtha	dulta

Notes

^ Tenses are named and listed as per Wiktionary conjugation templates
^ The d- forms are immune to lenition, they were previously adeir, adúirt
^ The analytic form is deir, that is, deir does not take an -eann suffix
^ The analytic form is tá, that is, tá does not take an -(a)nn suffix
^ Téann is a contraction of téigh + eann > téann
^ The analytic form is fuil, that is, fuil does not take an -eann suffix
^ Negative níl is a contraction of ní fhuil
^ Interrogative an bhfuil tends to be pronounced an fhuil
^ The analytic form is dúirt
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 Only in the autonomous is the stem broadened with -thas
^ The analytic form is tháinig (slender, unlenited g)
^ The analytic form is chuaigh (slender)
^ Quoted with the negative particle to highlight initial mutations
^ For compound forms, the stem is broadened to rabh-, e.g., rabhthas
^ Eclipsis rather than lenition
^ The stem is inherently lenited
↑ ^17.0 ^17.1 ^17.2 ^17.3 ^17.4 ^17.5 No f in declension suffix, e.g., gheobhaidh
↑ ^18.0 ^18.1 Eclipsis with ní
^ The analytic form is bheadh
^ Contraction of téigh + e > té
^ Declension follows the conditional, rather than the usual past habitual
^ All imperatives are identical to the radical
^ The verbal nouns and adjectives (past participles) are given for all verbs
^ faigh + áil > fáil

Etymology of irregular verbs

Independent stems tend to be derived from Old Irish (SGa) deuteronic forms, and dependent stems from SGa prototonic forms.

Eight verbs (abair, beir, bí, clois, feic, tabhair, tar, téigh) have forms derived ultimately from two or more source verbs.^{[e 1]} Only three (déan, faigh, ith) derive from a single source.

Three verbs (abair, beir, tabhair) are derived (fully or paritially) from SGa beirid.

The verbal noun of tar (“to come”) (teacht) leaked across from the verbal noun of téigh (“to go”) (whose verbal noun is now dul).

Verb form	Obsolete	Middle Irish	Old Irish		Proto-Celtic	PIE
Verb form	Obsolete	Middle Irish	form	roots	Proto-Celtic	root	translation
abair		at·beir	as·beir	ess- + beirid	*bereti	*bʰer-	carry
deir	adeir	at·beir	as·beir
dúirt	adubhairt	dubart	as·rubart ^{[e 2]}
rá	rádh		rád	ráidid	*rādīti	*Hreh₁dʰ-	arrange

beir			·beir	beirid	*bereti	*bʰer-	carry
rug			·ruc ^{[e 3]}	ro- + ·uic	*onkeyeti	*h₂neḱ-	reach

bí			bí	ad- + ·tá	*bwiyeti	*bʰuH-	become
tá			at·tá		*tāti	*steh₂-	stand
^{[e 4]} ^{[e 5]} fuil			fil		*wel-	*wel-	see!
raibh			·roib ^{[e 6]}		cf *bwiyeti
bheadh			·biad		cf *bwiyeti

clois			cloisid	This is a conflation of the following two.
			coistid	con·túaisi	*tawsos	*teh₂ws-	listen
			clos	clúas	*kloustā	*ḱlewst-	hear
chuala			rochúala ^{[e 7]}	clúas	*kloustā	*ḱlewst-	hear

déan			·dénai ^{[e 8]}	do·gní < dí- + gníid	*gniyeti	*ǵenh₁-	produce, beget
rinne	do-rinne		do·rigni ^{[e 9]}
dearna			*·dernai ^{[e 10]}

faigh		fogbai	fo·gaib ^{[e 11]}	fo- + gaibid	*gabyeti	*gʰh₁bʰ-	take, hold
fuair			fuar
gheobhaidh			gaibid

feic ^{[e 12]}			·aicci	ad·cí	*adkʷiseti	*kʷeys-	see, heed
chonaic			ad·condairc^{[e 13]}		*derk-	*derḱ-	see
faca			·acca ^{[e 14]}		cf *adkʷiseti

ith			ithid	ithid	*ɸiteti	*peyt-	eat
íosfaidh			·íss ^{[e 15]}	ithid	*ɸiɸitsāti	*peyt-	eat

tabhair			·tabair	do·beir < to- + beirid	*bereti	*bʰer-	carry
tug			tuicc ^{[e 16]}	do·uic	*ōnkeyo-	*h₂neḱ-	reach

tar			do·icc	do·icc < to- + ·icc	*annketi	*h₂neḱ-	reach, attain
tig			·ticc
tháinig			·tánaic
tiocfaidh			·ticfea
teacht			techt ^{[e 17]}	téit	*teigeti	*steygʰ-	go, climb

téigh			téit	téit	*teigeti	*steygʰ-	go, climb
chuaigh	chuaidh	do‑chuaidh	do·choïd	dí- + com- + feidid	*wedeti	*wedʰ-	lead
deachaigh	deachaidh		·dechuid ^{[e 18]}	dí- + com- + feidid	*wedeti	*wedʰ-	lead
rachaidh			regaid ^{[e 19]}	regaid	*rigāti	*h₁ergʰ-	go, move
dul			dul ^{[e 20]}	?	*ludet	*h₁ludʰét	arrive

Notes

^ There are two examples in English, be and go.
^ perfect of as·beir (ro-form?).
^ perfect, ro-form, prototonic of beirid.
^ See also voici.
^ etymology 2 in this entry.
^ 3rd sg, present subjunctive, ro-form, prototonic of at·tá.
^ cf. chuala on MacBain.
^ present deuteronic of do·gní.
^ perfect deuteronic of do·gní.
^ perfect prototonic of do·gní.
^ fo-gaib on eDIL.
^ The f is prothetic, a misinterpretation of aic- as lenited *faic.
^ perfect of ad·cí.
^ perfect protonic of ad·ci.
^ 1st sg future conjunct of ithid.
^ prototonic do·uic, 3rd sg perfect deuteronic of do·beir.
^ vn. of téit, later of do·icc.
^ perfect prototonic téit.
^ 3rd sg future absolute of téit.
^ no SGa etymology in this entry; MacBain has doluid, with PIE etymology *leudho ("go"), at entry dol; cf Pret. 3 s. of do·tét on eDIL; dul on eDIL; also, luid, téit, do·tét here on Wiktionary.

Irregulars, in order of irregularity

clois, ith
- one irregular stem only
feic, déan
- distinct independent and dependent forms in past tense only
abair, beir, tabhair
- all derived from Old Irish beirid
- broadened in indicative future and conditional
- verbal noun of abair is from a different verb root
faigh, tar, téigh
- independent and dependent forms in various moods and tenses
bí
- in common with most other languages, the verb to be is the most irregular

Wiktionary templates

General:

{{ga-conj-irreg}}

Specific:

Notes

^ There are 22 entries in Category:Irish irregular verbs as at 20-Mar-2018, including alternative forms and compounds
^ For this reason, the regular present habitual of bí is distinctive

External links

Irregular Verbs on Nualeargais
Tense and Features in Irish Verbal Morphology, Paolo Acquaviva, Minority Languages, Proceedings of the Irish Network in Formal Linguistics, Oct 2013, Part II, Chapter 5, pp. 70-90.
MacBain's Dictionary, An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.