Difference between revisions of "Verb Inflection"

Revision as of 21:53, 22 April 2015

Past Tense

Scottish Gaelic verbs can encode tense, aspect, modality, voice, person, and number.

Declarative

With regular verbs in declarative context, the past tense is formed by leniting the first consonant of the imperative. With vowel initial forms, one prefixes an orthographic <dh'> (pronounced as [ɣ] before broad vowels and [j] before slender ones). Forms beginning with f, are both lenited and preceded by <dh'>

chart based on a similar one in Fisher (2004)

In Negatives, Questions and Embedded Clauses

In negatives, questions and declarative embedded clauses, the verb takes its dependent form. In the past tense the dependent form is usually identical to the normal past, but preceded by the particle do. Do is required in formal speech and in prescriptive writing but is often left out in rapid speech. Some dialects (e.g. Lewis) tend to leave the particle off more frequently.

chart based on a similar one in Fisher (2004)

Impersonal (Passive) forms

In the impersonal passive, the root is lenited and the suffix -eadh/-adh is attached to the end of the word. The impersonal passive demotes the agent/do-er, and it no longer appears in the structure. Instead, the patient/undergo-er is highlighted, as in example (a) based off of Lamb 2001 (pg. 64).<br\>

• • (a)

chreachadh am baile

destroy.IMPERS the town.NOM

"the town was destroyed"

The Impersonal form contrasts with the active sentence in (b) where the third person plural agent iad appears.

• • (b)

cheach iad a' bhaile

destroy.PAST they the town

"they destroyed the town"

Present Tense

Most verbs in Gaelic don't have a present tense. The primary exceptions are the Copula and the verb Bi (auxiliary)

To mark what translates as the present tense in English, there are two strategies. One is to use the progressive:

• Tha mi a' dol ann "I'm going there

When the intention is a habitual, the future tense is used.

• Ithidh mi a' bhiadh a h-uile latha I eat food every day" (literally I will eat food every day)

Future Tense

• Future: Fuirichidh, chan fhuirich, am fuirich, cò fuiricheas
• Future:
  • Yes form: suffix -idh (ithidh òlaidh)
  • No form: DON'T suffix -idh: Chan ith
• Cha is chan before vowels, and lenites but not d and t. Chan fhag
• Question form: DON'T suffix -idh, no lenition after "an" and "Nach"
• Future tense
  • Yes form ROOT +(A)IDH
  • No form CHA ROOT
  • Q/Neg AN/AM/NACH ROOT
  • Rel fut Co etc + ROOT+(e)AS

Impersonal (passive) forms

• suffix -(e)ar
  • dùinear e 'someone shut'

Relative Future

see also Relative Future

• the root is aspirated
• -(e)as is suffixed.
• The second person pronoun is always tu rather than thu

Conditional Mood

First person singular

• Lenite the root
• suffix -(a)inn
• do not use the pronoun mi. The inflected form includes the 1st person information)

Archaic first person plural (This form is rarely used anymore, instead the regular form just below plus the pronoun sinn is used)

• Lenite the root
• suffix -(e)amaid
• do not use the pronoun sinn. The inflected form includes the 1st person information.

All forms except First person

• Lenite the root
• suffix -eadh or -adh
• 2nd person singular is tu rather than thu

Imperative Mood (commands)

The Imperative (command) form of the verb is usually identical to the dictionary or root form of the verb.

• Fàg 'leave'

When plural or polite, add -(a)ibh to the root form:

• Fàgaibh 'you all leave'

The formation of verbal noun

When the verbal noun is used, another auxiliary-type verb is used to encode tense, aspect and/or negation. However, the verbal noun carries the lexical information of the verb.

The formation of the verbal adjective

• duinte
• òlte

See Also

External Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_grammar#Verb_forms_and_tense

References

• Fisher, Muriel (2004) Scottish Gaelic Level 2. Each-Mara Productions.
• Mark, Colin (200X) Gaelic Verbs: Systemised and Simplified. Savage Publishers.
• https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0809&L=GAIDHLIG-B&D=0&P=81674