Verb Inflection

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'>

Imperative	Past Tense	English
fàg!	dh'fhàg	left
ionnsaich!	dh'ionnsaich	learnt
pòg!	phòg	kissed
obair!	dh'obair	worked
sabaid!	shabaid	fought
sgrìobh!	sgrìobh	wrote
ruith!	ruith	run
seas!	sheas	sat
teasgaisg!	theagaisg	taught
tog!	thog	lifted

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.

Past Tense	Question	Negation	Negative Question	Embedded clause	English
phòg	an do phòg	cha do phòg	nach do phòg	gun do phòg	kissed
dh'obair	an do dh'obair	cha do dh'obair	nach do dh'obair	gun do dh'obair	worked
shabaid	an do shabaid	cha do shabaid	nach do shabaid	gun do shabaid	fought
sheas	an do sheas	cha do sheas	nach do sheas	gun do sheas	sat
thog	an do thog	cha do thog	nach do thog	gun do thog	lifted

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 the example based off of Lamb 2001 (pg. 64).<br\>

• 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.

• 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.

Bha	mi	a'	dol	dhan	bhuth(aidh)
be.past	I	PROG	go.vn	to.the	shop.(dat)
Aux	Subject	Aspect	Verbal Noun	Adposition	Noun
'I was going to the shop.'

The formation of the verbal adjective

• duinte
• òlte

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