Adverbs

Adverbs in Gaelic can be formed by using the inflectional morpheme 'gu,' or can follow a preposition. However, many Adverbs in Gaelic are non-inflected, and thus occur as fixed phrases.

Formation

Adverbs with 'gu'

Largest Group, Adjvective + gu = adverb

Thuirt	Seamus	ris	gu	fuar
say-PAST	Seamus	to him	ADV	cold
'Seamus said coldly.'

Adverbs Formed using Prepositions

air èiginn	'with difficulty'	air chall	'lost'
fa sgaoil	'in dispersed fashion'	air seòl	'sailing'
an làthair	'present'	aur iteal	'flying'

(Lamb 2001)

Intesifiers

Adverbs can be intensified using "glè" (very), and "ro"'extremely:

mòr	→	gu mòr	→	gu glè mòr
'great'	→	'greatly'	→	'very greatly'

Thuirt	Seamus	ris	gu	glè	fuar
say-PAST	Seamus	to him	ADV	very	cold
'Seamus said very coldly.'

Time Adverbs

Present

an ceart-uair	'just now'	a-nochd	'tonight'
a-nis(d)	'now (contrastive)'	am bliadhna	'this year'
an-dràsda	'now'	an-diugh	'today'

(Lamb 2001)

Past

an-dè	'yesterday'	a-bhòn-dè	'day before yesterday'
an uiridh	'last year'	an-raoir	'last night'
a-bhòn-raoir	'now'	Mar-thà/Mu-thrath	'already'

(Lamb 2001)

Future

an eara(i)r	'day after tomorrow'	gu sìorraidh	'for eternity'
a-màireach	'tomorrow'	an ath-bliadhna	'next year'
an ath-oidhch	'tomorrow night'	tuilleadh	'forever'

(Lamb 2001)

Indefinite

an còmhnaidh	'always'	greis	'for a while'
uaireannan	'sometimes'	fhathast	'still/yet'
uaireigin	'sometime'

(Lamb 2001)

Direction and Location

Location	Movement	English
"shuas"	"suas"	'up'
"shìos"	"sìos"	'down'
"a-bhos"	"a-nall"	'over here
"thall"	"a-null"	'over there'

(Lamb 2001)

Degree

Amplification, Emphasis, downtoning, and Hedges

Amplifiers

gu lèir	'completely'
gu mòr	'greatly'
direach	'exactly'
glè	'very'
ro	'extremely'

(Lamb 2001)

Emphatics

gu dearbh	'indeed'
gu deimhinne	'with certaintly'
gun teagamh	'without a doubt'

(Lamb 2001)

Downtoners

gu ìre	'to an extent'
gu ìre bheag	'to some extent'
an ìre mhath	'sometimes'

(Lamb 2001)

Hedgess

cha mhòr	'almost'
's dòcha	'perhaps'
ma dh 'fhaoidte	'perhaps'

(Lamb 2001)