Appendix:Irish verbs
There are two conjugations of Irish verbs. The first is mostly monosyllabic with only a few exceptions, while the second is polysyllabic. There are only eleven irregular verbs, with different degrees of irregularity.
Person and number
[edit]- First, second, third; singular, plural.
- Autonomous
Voices, moods and tenses
[edit]Conjugated forms:
- Active
- Indicative
- Present
- Present habitual
- Past
- Past habitual
- Future
- Conditional
- Subjunctive
- Present
- Past
- Imperative
- Indicative
Periphrastic constructs based on bí and/or verbal nouns and adjectives:
- Indicative perfect
- Passive
- The autonomous form can also be translated as passive.
Analytic and synthetic forms
[edit]Analytic forms have information about tense only, e.g. molann, molfaidh, etc. Pronouns must be used to add personal information, e.g. molann sibh.
Synthetic forms (as the name suggests) "join together" an analytic form and a pronoun, e.g. molann + mé > molaim.
First conjugation
[edit]| Indicative | Conditional | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Present | Future | Past | Past habitual | Present | Past | ||
| analytic | -ann | -fidh | L~ | L-adh | L-fadh | -a | -adh | - |
| 1st s | -im | -fad | -as | -inn | -finn | + | -inn | -im |
| 2nd s | -ir† | -fir† | -is† | -tá | -fá | + | -tá | ~ |
| 3rd s | + | + | ~ | + | + | + | + | -adh |
| 1st p | -imid | -fimid | ‑amar | -imis | -fimis | -imid | ‑imis | -imis |
| 2nd p | + | + | ~ | + | + | + | + | -igí |
| 3rd p | -id† | -fid† | ‑adar† | -idís | -fidís | + | -idís | -idís |
| auto | -tar | -far | ‑adh | -tí | -fí | -tar | -tí | -tar |
| relative | -as | -fas | ~ | + | + | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Second conjugation
[edit]| Indicative | Conditional | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Present | Future | Past | Past habitual | Present | Past | ||
| analytic | -íonn | ‑óidh [1] | L~ | L-íodh | L-ódh | -í | ‑íodh | ~ |
| 1st s | -ím | -ód | -íos | -ínn | -óinn | + | -ínn | -ím |
| 2nd s | -ír† | -óir† | -ís† | -íteá | -ófá | + | -íteá | ~ |
| 3rd s | + | + | ~ | + | + | + | + | -íodh |
| 1st p | -ímid | -óimid | ‑íomar | -ímis | -óimis | -ímid | -ímis | -ímis |
| 2nd p | + | + | ~ | + | + | + | + | -ígí |
| 3rd p | -íd† | -óid† | ‑íodar† | -ídís | -óidís | + | -ídís | -ídís |
| auto | -ítear | -ófar | ‑íodh | -ítí | -ófaí | -ítear | -ítí | -ítear |
| relative | -íos | -ós | ~ | ~ | ~ | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Suffix notes
[edit]- ~ Bare radical form.
- + Add the analytic suffix to the root.
- L Initial lenition of radical/root.
- † Dialect form.
- The tenses are listed slightly differently than in general on Wiktionary, in order to show the indicative present beside the future, and the indicative past habitual beside the conditional.
- The shorter of a suffix's broad and slender forms is shown, e.g. ‑ann for ‑(e)ann; ‑fidh for ‑f(a)idh.
Conjugation classification
[edit]- First
- Monosyllabic
- Various endings (template class 1a)
- Suffix -igh, e.g., nigh, léigh, dóigh (template class 1c)
- short or no vowel:
slender f, slender t
i → í (except before t)
e.g. nífeá, niteá - é:
slender f, slender t
e.g. léifeá, léiteá - other long vowel:
broad f, slender t
e.g. dhófá, dhóiteá
- short or no vowel:
- Compounds of monosyllabic
- Polysyllabic (template class 1b)
- in ‑áil:
broad f, slender t
e.g., shábhálfá, shábháilteá - Certain other polysyllabic (with broadening or syncopation)
- in ‑áil:
- Monosyllabic
- Second (template class 2)
- Polysyllabic, except those noted to be in the first conjugation
- Especially with endings:
- ‑igh, ‑im, ‑ing
- ‑il, ‑in, ‑ir, ‑is with syncopation.
- Irregular
- There are only eleven irregular verbs in Irish
Independent and dependent forms
[edit]Independent and dependent forms derive from the related ideas of absolute and conjunct forms (for simple verbs), and prototonic and deuteronic forms (for complex verbs), in Old Irish.[2] The forms are identical for all regular verbs in Modern Irish, and are clearly seen only in some of the tense forms of some of the irregulars.
Nouns and adjectives
[edit]Verbal nouns
[edit]There is a plethora of verbal noun forms in Irish. There are some patterns, but many exceptions. The suffixes are listed below in alphabetical order, although the long-vowel endings are grouped together, and suffixless forms are discussed at the end of the list.
- á, -é, -í, -ó, -ú
- first conjugation -igh
- short or no vowel: nigh, ní
- long vowel: leáigh, leá; pléigh, plé; dóigh, dó; súigh, sú
- second conjugation
- igh + adh > ú: críochnaigh, críochnú
- achain, achainí
- éirigh, éirí
- fiafraigh, fiafraí
- first conjugation -igh
- -ach
- ceannaigh, ceannach
- -acht
- fan, fanacht
- imigh, imeacht
- -achtáil
- mair, maireachtáil
- -adh
- bris, briseadh
- with broadening: buail, bualadh
- -aidh
- iarr, iarraidh
- -áil
- tóg, tógáil
- feic, feiceáil
- many late borrowings: péint, péinteáil
- -ain
- arg, argain
- -aíocht
- tóraigh, tóraíocht
- -amh
- léigh, léamh
- déan, déanamh
- -an
- lig, ligean
- -ch
- glaoigh, glaoch
- -chan
- beoigh, beochan
- -e
- fair, faire
- ith, ithe
- -im
- tit, titim
- -int
- inis, insint
- tuig, tuiscint
- -t
- verbs in -il, -in, -ir: imir, imirt
- -úint
- lean, leanúint
- suffixless
- fás[3]; ól; rith
- verbs in -áil: sábháil
- suffixless with broadening
- ceangail, ceangal
- cuir, cur
- siúil, siúl
- tafainn, tafann
Verbal adjectives
[edit]The verbal adjective root is slender or broad, derived from the radical. The basic suffix is ‑tə, which may or may not be lenited/aspirated, and the final ə is broad (a) or slender (e) in agreement with the adjective's root. Therefore, the possible set of altered suffixes is ‑ta, ‑tha, ‑te, ‑the. The formation rules are well defined and are applied regularly with very few exceptions.
- 2nd conjugation -im, -in, -ir (but not -il): root is broadened
- 2nd conjugation -is: root is syncopated
- verbs in -igh: drop the gh, exposing the vowel i
- dntls, th, vowels: suffix is not lenited
- for -th, -thte > te,
- verbs in -bh, -mh: bhth, mhth > f
Examples following these rules
- foghlaim, foghlamtha
- oscail, oscailte
- inis, inste
- glan, glanta
- nigh, nite
- ith, ite
- scríobh, scríofa
Declension of verbal nouns
[edit]The declension of verbal nouns depends on context. When used for example as substantive,[4] they are declined with the appropriate noun declension. The gender of the verbal noun tends to follow that of the declension, but there are exceptions.
- first declension: ól m, óil
- second declension: titim f, titime
- third declension: foghlaim f, foghlama
- fourth declension: ithe m, ithe
When verbal nouns are in infinitive context, they are declined using the verbal adjective.
- ól, ólta
- titim, tite
- foghlaim, foghlamtha
- ithe, ite
However, certain verbal nouns are always declined using the verbal adjective, irrespective of context.
- socrú, socraithe, socruithe
Copula
[edit]The copula is exists in only three tenses:
- indicative present (and future)
- indicative past (and conditional)
- subjunctive present
It is not declined.
Defective verbs
[edit]There is only a handful of defective verbs in Irish, notably:
The copula is (see above) is also regarded as a defective verb.
Wiktionary Templates
[edit]{{ga-conj-1a}}, first conjugation, monosyllabic, various endings not ‑igh{{ga-conj-1b}}, first conjugation, polysyllabic{{ga-conj-1c}}, first conjugation, monosyllabic ‑igh{{ga-conj-2}}, second conjugation
Notes
[edit]- ^ In Ulster Irish, -óchaidh.
- ^ Dependent and independent verb forms on Wikipedia
- ^ Fiche blia(i)n ag fás
- ^ See for example the verbal noun discussion on the Nualeargais Grammar Guide for more details
External links
[edit]- Regular Verbs on Nualeargais (Amy de Buitléir)
- Verbs on Nualeargais (Lars Bräsicke)
- Conjugating Regular Irish Verbs on gaeilge.org
- Irish conjugation on Wikipedia.
- Ulster Irish on Wikipedia.
- Analytic and synthetic forms on gaeilge.org.
- Irish Verb Inflection, Paolo Acquaviva