View source for Do (preposition)

[[Category: Lexical Item]]
[[Category: Preposition]]
*''for other uses of ''do'' see [[Do (disambiguation)]]''
*''for a complete list of prepositions see [[Prepositions]]''

Gaelic [[Preposition (definition)|preposition]], meaning roughly "for" or "to". It governs the [[dative]] case, and triggers [[lenition]] on following [[Indefinite (definition)|indefinite]] nouns.

==Simple forms==

*bare form: ''do<sup>L</sup>'' 'to a'
*definite form: ''don<sup>L</sup>'' 'to the'

==Basic inflected forms==

Like most prepositions, ''do'' can be inflected for [[person]], [[number]], and [[gender]]. For example, to say "to me", we use the single word ''dhomh''.

<TABLE columns="4" border=1 cellpadding=2, rules="all">
<TR><TH colspan="2"><TH colspan="1">singular<TH colspan="1">plural
<TR><TH colspan="2">1st<TD>dhomh<TD>dhuinn
<TR><TH colspan="2">2nd<TD>dhut/dhuit<TD>dhuibh
<TR><TH rowspan="2">3rd<TH>Masc<TD>dha<TD rowspan="2">dhaibh
<TR><TH>Fem<TD>dhi
</TABLE>

==Emphatic Inflected forms==

Special emphatic forms are used if we want to emphasize the pronoun in the inflected preposition. (e.g. ormsa "on ME")

<TABLE columns="4" border=1 cellpadding=2, rules="all">
<TR><TH colspan="2"><TH colspan="1">singular<TH colspan="1">plural
<TR><TH colspan="2">1st<TD>dhòmh-sa<TD>dhuinn-ne
<TR><TH colspan="2">2nd<TD>dhut-sa/dhuit-sa<TD>dhuibh-se
<TR><TH rowspan="2">3rd<TH>Masc<TD>dhà-san<TD rowspan="2">dhaibh-san
<TR><TH>Fem<TD>dhì-se 
</TABLE>

==Possessive inflected forms:==

There are three possible forms for combinations of the preposition with a possessive pronoun. There are forms without contraction, and two different kinds of contraction where one is lenited and the other is not

===Uncontracted forms===
<TABLE columns="4" border=1 cellpadding=2, rules="all">
<TR><TH colspan="2"><TH colspan="1">singular<TH colspan="1">plural
<TR><TH colspan="2">1st<TD>do mo<sup>L</sup><TD>do ar<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH colspan="2">2nd<TD>do do<sup>L</sup><TD>do ur<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH rowspan="2">3rd<TH>Masc<TD>do a<sup>L</sup><TD rowspan="2">do an<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH>Fem<TD>do a<sup>H</sup>
</TABLE>
''do am'' is used instead of ''do an'' "to their" in front of words beginning with the [[Labial (definition)|labial]] [[Consonant (definition)|consonants]] <nowiki><b>, <p>, <m>, and <f></nowiki>

===Lenited Contracted forms===
<TABLE columns="4" border=1 cellpadding=2, rules="all">
<TR><TH colspan="2"><TH colspan="1">singular<TH colspan="1">plural
<TR><TH colspan="2">1st<TD>dham<sup>L</sup><TD>dhar<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH colspan="2">2nd<TD>dhad<sup>L</sup><TD>dhur<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH rowspan="2">3rd<TH>Masc<TD>dha<sup>L</sup><TD rowspan="2">dhan<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH>Fem<TD>dha<sup>H</sup>
</TABLE>
''dham'' is used instead of ''dhan'' "to their" in front of words beginning with the [[Labial (definition)|labial]] [[Consonant (definition)|consonants]] <nowiki><b>, <p>, <m>, and <f></nowiki>

===Unlenited Contracted forms===
<TABLE columns="4" border=1 cellpadding=2, rules="all">
<TR><TH colspan="2"><TH colspan="1">singular<TH colspan="1">plural
<TR><TH colspan="2">1st<TD>dom<sup>L</sup><TD>dar<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH colspan="2">2nd<TD>dod<sup>L</sup><TD>dur<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH rowspan="2">3rd<TH>Masc<TD>da<sup>L</sup><TD rowspan="2">dan<sup>N</sup>
<TR><TH>Fem<TD>da<sup>H</sup>
</TABLE>
''dam'' is used instead of ''dan'' "to their" in front of words beginning with the [[Labial (definition)|labial]] [[Consonant (definition)|consonants]] <nowiki><b>, <p>, <m>, and <f></nowiki>

==References==
Mark, Colin (2004) ''The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Am Faclair Gàidhlig-Beurla.'' London: Routledge

==Notes==
In this document, as elsewhere, <sup>L</sup> indicates [[lenition]] and <sup>N</sup> indicates [[eclipsis]], (prefixation of an n- before a word beginning with vowels, and a nasalization of the next consonant (not indicated in the orthography) and <sup>H</sup> indicates [[antilenition]] (the prefixation of h before words beginning with vowels).