Thig (irregular verb)

The irregular verb thig means "to come". Thig is one of 11 irregular verbs in Gaelic.

Summary of forms

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

context			independent	Dependent
basic forms	active	past	thàinig	tàinig
		Future	thig	tig
		Relative Future	---	thig
	impersonal1	past	thàinigeadh or thàinigeas	tàinigeadh or tàinigeas
		future	thig(t)ear	tig(t)ear
		relative future	---	thig(t)ear
Conditional Mood	active		thigeadh2 (thiginn1 in 1st sing) (thigeamaid1,3 in 1 pl)	tigeadh2 (tiginn 1 in 1st sing) (tigeamaid1,3 in 1pl)
	impersonal		thigte	tigte
Imperative Mood	2nd person	singular	thig	---
		plural	thigibh1
verbal noun			tighinn

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 1 pl inflected forms are archaic and are rarely used anymore.

Non Conditional Moods (indicative, interrogative, negative)

Active Voice

Past tense

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

Present tense

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

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	thig mi	an tig mi	cha tig	nach tig mi	a thig mi
2	thig thu	an tig thu	cha tig thu	nach tig thu	a thig thu
3 masc	thig e	an tig e	cha tig e	nach tig e	a thig e
3 fem	thig i	an tig i	cha tig i	nach tig i	a thig i
1 pl	thig sinn	an tig sinn	cha tig sinn	nach tig sinn	a thig sinn
2 pl	thig sibh	an tig sibh	cha tig sibh	nach tig sibh	a thig sibh
3 pl	thig iad	an tig iad	cha tig iad	nach tig iad	a thig iad

Note:

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

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Impersonal/Passive Voice

Gaelic verbs don't technically have a Passive verb form. It does, however, have an impersonal form. The Impersonal is used to indicate an indeterminate subject, so thàinigeadh means "someone came"

Past tense

Note: these forms are archaic and almost never used anymore

Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
thàinigeadh	an tàinigeadh	cha tàinigeadh	nach tàinigeadh

Present tense

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

Future tense

The future tense impersonal form is ruigear, both as a simple form and with particles (an ruigear, cha ruigear, nach ruigear, a ruigear, etc.)

Conditional Mood

Active

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
1	ruiginn1	an ruiginn1	cha ruiginn1	nach ruiginn1
2	ruigeadh tu2	an ruigeadh2 tu	cha ruigeadh2 tu	nach ruigeadh2 tu
3 masc	ruigeadh e	an ruigeadh e	cha ruigeadh e	nach ruigeadh e
3 fem	ruigeadh i	an ruigeadh i	cha ruigeadh i	nach ruigeadh i
1 pl	ruigeadh sinn (ruigeamaid3)	an ruigeadh sinn (an ruigeamaid3)	cha ruigeadh sinn (cha ruigeamaid3)	nach ruigeamaid sinn (nach ruigeamaid3)
2 pl	ruigeadh sibh	an ruigeadh sibh	cha ruigeadh sibh	nach ruigeadh sibh
3 pl	ruigeadh iad	an ruigeadh iad	cha ruigeadh iad	nach ruigeadh 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
ruigte	an ruigte	cha ruigte	nach ruigte

Imperative Mood

• singular: ruig
• plural: ruigibh

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