Abair (irregular verb)

The irregular verb Abair means "to say". Abair is one of 11 irregular verbs in Gaelic.

Uses

A common idiomatic usage: when used by itself, it means something along the line "what a" or "Say, look"

• Abair latha math 'what a good day'
• Abair duine laghach "what a nice man'
• Abair car breagha 'what a beautiful car'

Summary of forms

• Independent forms of the verb abair are used without any particles.
• Dependent forms of the verb abair are used after an, nach, gun and other verbal particles.
• Unlike regular verbs, the dependent past tense particle do is never used with abair.

context			independent	Dependent
basic forms	active	past	thuirt (or thubhairt)	tuirt
		Future	their	abair
		Relative Future	---	their
	impersonal1	past	thuirteadh	tuirteadh
		future	theirear	abrar
		relative future	---	theirear
Conditional Mood	active		theireadh2 (theirinn1 in 1st singular)	abradh2 (abrainn1 in 1st sing)
	impersonal		theirte	abairte
Imperative Mood	2nd person	singular	abair1,3	---
		plural	abraibh1,3
verbal noun			ràdh

Notes:

• ¹ these forms are not used with any subject, they contain the subject in the inflection of the verb (Pro-Drop)
• ² takes tu rather than thu in the 2nd person.
• ³ Abair is rarely used to mean "Say" in the imperative, instead the regular verb can is more often used.

Non Conditional Moods (indicative, interrogative, negative)

Active Voice

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	embedded
1	thuirt mi	an tuirt mi	cha tuirt mi	nach tuirt mi	gun tuirt mi
2	thuirt thu	an tuirt thu	cha tuirt thu	nach tuirt thu	gun tuirt thu
3 masc	thuirt e	an tuirt e	cha tuirt e	nach tuirt e	gun tuirt e
3 fem	thuirt i	an tuirt i	cha tuirt i	nach tuirt i	gun tuirt i
1 pl	thuirt sinn	an tuirt sinn	cha tuirt sinn	nach tuirt sinn	gun tuirt sinn
2 pl	thuirt sibh	an tuirt sibh	cha tuirt sibh	nach tuirt sibh	gun tuirt sibh
3 pl	thuirt iad	an tuirt iad	cha tuirt iad	nach tuirt iad	gun tuirt iad

Present tense

As is common in Gaelic, there is no present tense form of the verb. When a simple present meaning ("I say something") or a progressive meaning (I am saying something) is intended, the periphrastic construction is used with the present tense of the verb bi (be), i.e., tha, along with the verbal noun.

Tha	mi	ag	ràdh
be.pres	1s	prog	say.vn
I'm saying/I say

Future tense

The future tense in Gaelic is used to express the idea that an event will happen sometime after the speech time. Unlike English, the future tense can also be used with a present tense meaning, to express the idea that an action is habitual.

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	Relative Future1
1	their mi	an abair mi	chan abair mi	nach abair mi	a their mi
2	their thu	an abair thu	chan abair thu	nach abair thu	a their thu
3 masc	their e	an abair e	chan abair e	nach abair e	a their e
3 fem	their i	an abair i	chan abair i	nach abair i	a their i
1 pl	their sinn	an abair sinn	chan abair sinn	nach abair sinn	a their sinn
2 pl	their sibh	an abair sibh	chan abair sibh	nach abair sibh	a their sibh
3 pl	their iad	an abair iad	chan abair iad	nach abair iad	a their iad

Note:

1. the relative future is used after certain particles such as ma or the particle used with questions a.

---

Impersonal/Passive Voice

Gaelic verbs don't technically have a Passive verb form. Instead the passive is typically represented through a periphrastic construction using the verbs Rach or Tha + the passive marker air. It does, however, have an impersonal form. The Impersonal is used to indicate an indeterminate subject. thuirteadh can be best translated as "someone said". When used with a pronoun, the pronoun represents the logical object of the verb. So "thuirteadh e" means "Someone said it". This is often translated as "it was said", hence the typical "passive" label.

Since Gaelic doesn't distinguish between subject and object pronouns (unlike it's sibling Modern Irish), it is very difficult to determine if these pronouns are subjects or objects. We list them here as if they were subjects, with the understanding that the pronouns in the following tables represent the logical objects of the verb (the thing that was said, not the sayer).

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
3 masc	thuirteadh e	an tuirteadh e	cha tuirteadh e	nach tuirteadh e
3 fem	thuirteadh i	an tuirteadh i	cha tuirteadh i	nach tuirteadh i
3 pl	thuirteadh iad	an tuirteadh iad	cha tuirteadh iad	nach tuirteadh iad

Present tense

The use of a passive in the present tense is odd, even in English. We leave this blank here.

Future tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	Relative Future1
3 masc	theirear e	an abrar e	chan abrar e	nach abrar e	a theirear e
3 fem	theirear i	an abrar i	chan abrar i	nach abrar i	a theirear i
3 pl	theirear iad	an abrar iad	chan abrar iad	nach abrar iad	a theirear iad

Notes

1. the relative future is used after certain particles such as a the particle used with questions, or ma "if".

Conditional Mood

Active

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
1	theirinn1	an abrainn	chan abrainn	nach abrainn
2	theireadh tu2	an abradh tu	chan abradh tu	nach abradh tu
3 masc	theireadh e	an abradh e	chan abradh e	nach abradh e
3 fem	theireadh i	an abradh i	chan abradh i	nach abradh i
1 pl	theireadh sinn (theireamaid3)	an abradh sinn (an abramaid3)	chan abradh sinn (chan abramaid3)	nach abradh sinn (nach abramaid3)
2 pl	theireadh sibh	an abradh sibh	chan abradh sibh	nach abradh sibh
3 pl	theireadh iad	an abradh iad	chan abradh iad	nach abradh iad

Notes:

1. The 1st person singular form is never used with an overt pronoun, the verb contains the pronoun already.
2. The pronoun tu is used here instead of thu
3. The 1st person plural has a special inflected form, which like the first person singular is never used with a pronoun. This 1st person plural form is rarely used anymore.

passive

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
3 masc	theirte e	an abairte e	chan abairte e	nach abairte e
3 fem	theirte i	an abairte i	chan abairte i	nach abairte i
3 pl	theirte iad	an abairte iad	chan abairte iad	nach abairte iad

Imperative Mood

The imperative of abair is rarely used to mean "say!". Instead it often has the meaning of "What an X" Abair an duine What a guy!".

To express an imperative meaning say, most speakers will use the regular verb can instead.

References

• Black, Ronald (2006) Cothrom Ionnsachaidh Peebles: Self-published.
• Byrne, Michel (2002) Gràmar na Gàidhlig. Eilean Leòdhais: Stòrlann-Acair.
• Deiseal Earranta tta (2006) Reference Cards: Sealbhairean Roimhearach/Riochdairean Roimhearach.
• Mark, Colin (2004) The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Am faclair Gàidhlig-Beurla. London: Routledge
• Mark, Colin (2006), Gaelic Verbs: Systemised and Simplified" 2nd Edition. Edinburgh: Steve Savage Publishers. http://www.savagepublishers.com/138.html
• Lamb, William (2003) Scottish Gaelic. 2nd edition. Munich: Lingcom Europa