Appendix:Old Irish t preterite verbs

The Old Irish t preterite originated in Proto-Celtic in forms where the preterite suffix -s- came between a root-final consonant and the third-person singular ending -t. The s disappeared by phonological rule in this environment, and the remaining -t was reinterpreted as a tense-marking suffix and spread to the rest of the paradigm. The t preterite is found on strong verbs whose root ends in one of the consonants r, l, m, and g (though not on all such strong verbs).

The t endings are generally added directly to the verb root, but saigid takes the reduplicated form sïacht (< *si-sax-t).

The t preterite is found in a few forms in Brythonic as well, e.g. Middle Welsh kymerth (“took”), aeth (“went”).

As with the s preterite, the passive forms are derived from a verbal adjective with a suffix starting with t.

See Category:Old Irish t preterite verbs for a list of verbs belonging to this class.

Nondeponent endings

A sample verb for this class is beirid (“to take”), which ends in a broad consonant. The endings are as follows:

Present indicative

	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.	Passive singular	Passive plural
Absolute	—	—	birt	—	—	bertatar	brethae	brethai
Conjunct	·biurt	·birt	·bert	·bertammar	·bertaid*	·berta(ta)r	·breth	·bretha
Relative	—	—	berte	—	—	berta(ta)r	brethae	brethai
*Attested in the prefixed form as·rubartid

Further reading

• McCone, Kim (1997) The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, →ISBN, pages 54–56
• Strachan, John, Bergin, Osborn (1949) Old-Irish Paradigms and Selections from the Old-Irish Glosses, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, →ISBN, pages 63–64
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, pages 421–24; reprinted 2017
• Watkins, Calvert (1969) Indo-European Origins of the Celtic Verb: I. The Sigmatic Aorist, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, pages 156–74