Dèan (irregular verb)

The irregular verb dèan means "to do" or "to make". Dèan is one of 11 irregular verbs in Gaelic.

Summary of forms

• Independent forms of the verb dèan are used without any particles.
• Dependent forms of the verb dèan are used after an, nach, gun and other particles

context			independent	Dependent
basic forms	active	past1	rinn	d'rinn or do rinn
		Future	nì	dèan
		Relative Future1	---	nì
	impersonal1	past	rinneadh	do rinneadh
		future	nithear	dèanar
		relative future	---	nithear
Conditional Mood	active		dhèanadh1 (dhèanainn2 in 1st sing) (dhèanamaid2,3 in 1 pl)	dèanadh1 (dèanainn2 in 1st sing) (dèanamaid2,3 in 1 pl)
	impersonal		dhèante	dèante
Imperative Mood	1st person	singular	dèanam2	---
		plural	dèanamaid2
	2nd person	singular	dèan2
		plural	dèanaibh2
	3rd person		dèanadh
verbal noun			dèanamh

Notes:

• ¹ 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)
• ³ rare and archaic.

Non Conditional Moods (indicative, interrogative, negative)

Active Voice

Past tense

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

Present tense

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

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	nì mi	an cluinn mi	cha chluinn mi	nach cluinn mi	a nì mi
2	nì thu	an dèan thu	cha dèan thu	nach dèan thu	a nì thu
3 masc	nì e	an dèan e	cha dèan e	nach dèan e	a nì e
3 fem	nì i	an dèan i	cha dèan i	nach dèan i	a nì i
1 pl	nì sinn	an dèan sinn	cha dèan sinn	nach dèan sinn	a nì sinn
2 pl	nì sibh	an dèan sibh	cha dèan sibh	nach dèan sibh	a nì sibh
3 pl	nì iad	an cluidèannn iad	cha dèan iad	nach dèan iad	a nì 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 and declarative 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. Chualas can be best translated as "someone heard". Use of a pronoun is completely optional. So "Chualas" is a completely well-formed sentence. When used with a pronoun, the pronoun represents the logical object of the verb. So "chualas mi" means "Someone heard me". This is often translated as "I was heard", 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 person who was heard, not the hearer).

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
1	rinneadh mi	an do rinneadh mi	cha do rinneadh mi	nach do rinneadh mi
2	rinneadh tu1	an do rinneadh tu	cha do rinneadh tu	nach do rinneadh tu
3 masc	rinneadh e	an do rinneadh e	cha do rinneadh e	nach do rinneadh e
3 fem	rinneadh i	an do rinneadh i	cha do rinneadh i	nach do rinneadh i
1 pl	rinneadh sinn	an do rinneadh sinn	cha do rinneadh sinn	nach do rinneadh sinn
2 pl	rinneadh sibh	an do rinneadh sibh	cha do rinneadh sibh	nach do rinneadh sibh
3 pl	rinneadh iad	an do rinneadh iad	cha do rinneadh iad	nach do rinneadh 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. We leave this blank here

Future tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	Relative Future1
1	nithear mi	an dèanar mi	cha dèanar mi	nach dèanar mi	a nithear mi
2	nithear thu	an dèanar thu	cha dèanar thu	nach dèanar thu	a nithear thu
3 masc	nithear e	an dèanar e	cha dèanar e	nach dèanar e	a nithear e
3 fem	nithear i	an dèanar i	cha dèanar i	nach dèanar i	a nithear i
1 pl	nithear sinn	an dèanar sinn	cha dèanar sinn	nach dèanar sinn	a nithear sinn
2	nithear sibh	an dèanar sibh	cha dèanar sibh	nach dèanar sibh	a nithear sibh
3 pl	nithear iad	an dèanar iad	cha dèanar iad	nach dèanar iad	a nithear 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	dhèanainn1	an dèanainn	cha dèanainn	nach dèanainn
2	dhèanadh tu2	an dèanadh tu	cha dèanadh tu	nach dèanadh tu
3 masc	dhèanadh e	an dèanadh e	cha dèanadh e	nach dèanadh e
3 fem	dhèanadh i	an dèanadh i	cha dèanadh i	nach dèanadh i
1 pl	dhèanadh sinn (dhèaneamaid3)	an dèanadh sinn (an dèaneamaid3)	cha dèanadh sinn (cha dèaneamaid3)	nach dèanadh sinn (nach dèaneamaid3)
2 pl	dhèanadh sibh	an dèanadh sibh	cha dèanadh sibh	nach dèanadh sibh
3 pl	dhèanadh iad	an dèanadh iad	cha dèanadh iad	nach dèanadh 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	dhèante mi	an dèante mi	cha dèante mi	nach dèante mi
2	dhèante thu	an dèante thu	cha dèante thu	nach dèante thu
3 masc	dhèante e	an dèante e	cha dèante e	nach dèante e
3 fem	dhèante i	an dèante i	cha dèante i	nach dèante i
1 pl	dhèante sinn	an dèante sinn	cha dèante sinn	nach dèante sinn
2 pl	dhèante sibh	an dèante sibh	cha dèante sibh	nach dèante sibh
3 pl	dhèante iad	an dèante iad	cha dèante iad	nach dèante 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 "Do!". 1st and 3rd person imperatives translated loosely as "Let me do", "let us do", "let he/she/them do". The 1st person plural and third person imperatives are the same as the conditional forms except without lenition

person		form
singular	1	dèanam1
	2	dèan1
	3 masc	dèanadh e
	3 fem	dèanadh i
plural	1	dèanamaid1
	2	dèanaibh1
	3	dèanadh 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