Indirect Object
From Scottish Gaelic Grammar Wiki
Revision as of 15:16, 22 May 2012 by AndrewCarnie (talk | contribs)
for a definition of indirect object see: Indirect Object (definition)
Word order
In Scottish Gaelic, the indirect object must appear after the direct object and must be contained in a prepositional phrase as in (1). The structure paralleling the English Mary gave Bill the book, where the indirect object isn't marked with a preposition and the indirect object precedes the object is ungrammatical (2)
1.
Thug Morag leabhar do Bhill give.Pst Morag a book to Bill 'Morag gave a book to Bill.'
2. (Ungrammatical!)
*Thug Morag Bill leabhar give.Pst Morag Bill a book 'Morag gave Bill a book.'