Beir (irregular verb)

The irregular verb beir means "to catch" or "give birth". Beir is one of 11 irregular verbs in Gaelic.

Uses

• can mean "bear"
• Can mean give birth to
• Rug + air "catch"/catch up

The verb beir is easily confused with the future and conditional independent forms of the verb thoir (i.e. bheir e He will take). They look similar, so watch out for these easily confused forms.

Summary of forms

• Independent forms of the verb beir are used without any particles.
• Dependent forms of the verb heir are used after an, nach, gun and other verbal particles (except cha).
• Cha takes dependent forms but lenites the verb.

context			independent	After Cha	Dependent
basic forms	active	past1	rug	do rug
		Future	beiridh	bheir	beir
		Relative Future1	---		bheireas1
	impersonal1	past	rugadh	do rugadh
		future	beirear	bheirear	beirear
		relative future	---		bheirear
Conditional Mood	active		bheireadh1 (bheirinn2 in 1st singular)		beireadh1 (beirinn2 in 1st sing)
	impersonal		bheirte		beirte
Imperative Mood	2nd person	singular	beir2	---
		plural	beiribh2
verbal noun			beirsinn or breith

Notes:

• ¹ with the past tense, relative future and impersonal forms of this verb, the pronoun tu is used instead of thu
• ² these forms are not used with any subject, they contain the subject in the inflection of the verb (Pro-Drop)

Non Conditional Moods (indicative, interrogative, negative)

Active Voice

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	embedded
1	rug mi	an do rug mi	cha chuala mi	nach cuala mi	gun cuala mi
2	rug thu	an do rug thu	cha do rug thu	nach do rug thu	gun do rug thu
3 masc	rug e	an do rug e	cha do rug e	nach do rug e	gun do rug e
3 fem	rug i	an do rug i	cha do rug i	nach cuala i	gun do rug i
1 pl	rug sinn	an do rug sinn	cha chuala sinn	nach do rug sinn	gun do rug sinn
2 pl	rug sibh	an do rug sibh	cha chuala sibh	nach do rug sibh	gun do rug sibh
3 pl	rug iad	an do rug iad	cha do rug iad	nach do rug iad	gun do rug iAd

Present tense

As is common in Gaelic, there is no present tense form of the verb. When a simple present meaning ("I catch something") or a progressive meaning (I am catching 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	a'	breith ...
be.pres	1s	prog	hear.vn
I'm catching/I catching ...

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	beiridh mi	am beir mi	cha beir mi	nach beir mi	a bheireas mi
2	beiridh tu2	am beir thu	cha beir thu	nach beir thu	a bheireas tu2
3 masc	beiridh e	am beir e	cha bheir e	nach beir e	a bheireas e
3 fem	beiridh i	am beir i	cha bheir i	nach beir i	a bheireas i
1 pl	beiridh sinn	am beir sinn	cha bheir sinn	nach beir sinn	a bheireas sinn
2 pl	beiridh sibh	am beir sibh	cha bheir sibh	nach beir sibh	a bheireas sibh
3 pl	beiridh iad	am beir iad	cha bheir iad	nach beir iad	a bheireas iad

Note:

1. the relative future is used after certain particles such as ma or the particle used with questions a.
2. Note that in the relative future the pronoun tu is used in lieu of thu.

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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. Rugadh can be best translated as "someone caught". Use of a pronoun is completely optional. So "rugadh" is a completely well-formed sentence. When used with a pronoun, the pronoun represents the logical object of the verb. So "rugadh mi" means "I was born" or "someone birthed me"

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 person who was caught or born, not the catcher or the parent).

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
1	rugadh mi	an do rugadh mi	cha do rugadh mi	nach do rugadh mi
2	rugadh tu1	an do rugadh tu	cha do rugadh tu	nach do rugadh tu
3 masc	rugadh e	an do rugadh e	cha do rugadh e	nach do rugadh e
3 fem	rugadh i	an do rugadh i	cha do rugadh i	nach do rugadh i
1 pl	rugadh sinn	an do rugadh sinn	cha do rugadh sinn	nach do rugadh sinn
2 pl	rugadh sibh	an do rugadh sibh	cha do rugadh sibh	nach do rugadh sibh
3 pl	rugadh iad	an do rugadh iad	cha do rugadh iad	nach do rugadh iad

Notes:

1. The pronoun tu is used here instead of thu

Present tense

The use of a passive in the present tense is odd, even in English. But if forced, one would use a passive periphrastic construction using the present tense of the verb bi followed by the derived subject followed by air and finally the verb in verbal noun form:

Tha	mi	air	cluinntinn
be.pres	1s	passive	hear.vn
"I am heard"

Future tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	Relative Future1
1	cluinnear mi	an cluinnear mi	cha chluinnear mi	nach cluinnear mi	a chluinnear mi
2	cluinnear thu	an cluinnear thu	cha chluinnear thu	nach cluinnear thu	a chluinnear thu
3 masc	cluinnear e	an cluinnear e	cha chluinnear e	nach cluinnear e	a chluinnear e
3 fem	cluinnear i	an cluinnear i	cha chluinnear i	nach cluinnear i	a chluinnear i
1 pl	cluinnear sinn	an cluinnear sinn	cha chluinnear sinn	nach cluinnear sinn	a chluinnear sinn
2	cluinnear sibh	an cluinnear sibh	cha chluinnear sibh	nach cluinnear sibh	a chluinnear sibh
3 pl	cluinnear iad	an cluinnear iad	cha chluinnear iad	nach cluinnear iad	a chluinnear 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	chluinninn1	an cluinninn	cha chluinninn	nach cluinninn
2	chluinneadh tu2	an cluinneadh tu	cha chluinneadh tu	nach cluinneadh tu
3 masc	chluinneadh e	an cluinneadh e	cha chluinneadh e	nach cluinneadh e
3 fem	chluinneadh i	an cluinneadh i	cha chluinneadh i	nach cluinneadh i
1 pl	chluinneadh sinn (chluinneamaid3)	an cluinneadh sinn (an cluinneamaid3)	cha chluinneadh sinn (cha chluinneamaid3)	nach cluinneadh sinn (nach cluinneamaid3)
2 pl	chluinneadh sibh	an cluinneadh sibh	cha chluinneadh sibh	nach cluinneadh sibh
3 pl	chluinneadh iad	an cluinneadh iad	cha chluinneadh iad	nach cluinneadh 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
1	chluinnte mi	an cluinnte mi	cha chluinnte mi	nach cluinnte mi
2	chluinnte thu	an cluinnte thu	cha chluinnte thu	nach cluinnte thu
3 masc	chluinnte e	an cluinnte e	cha chluinnte e	nach cluinnte e
3 fem	chluinnte i	an cluinnte i	cha chluinnte i	nach cluinnte i
1 pl	chluinnte sinn	an cluinnte sinn	cha chluinnte sinn	nach cluinnte sinn
2 pl	chluinnte sibh	an cluinnte sibh	cha chluinnte sibh	nach cluinnte sibh
3 pl	chluinnte iad	an cluinnte iad	cha chluinnte iad	nach cluinnte iad

Imperative Mood

The Imperative mood is used when giving a command. 2nd person imperatives are the most common. In English these are translated with by just the verb "Hear!". 1st and 3rd person imperatives translated loosely as "Let me hear", "let us hear", "let he/she/them hear". The 1st person plural and third person imperatives are the same as the conditional forms except without lenition

person		form
singular	1	cluinneam1
	2	cluinn1
	3 masc	cluinneadh e
	3 fem	cluinneadh i
plural	1	cluinneamaid1
	2	cluinnibh1
	3	cluinneadh iad

Notes

1. The 1st and 2nd person forms are used without subject pronouns.

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