Cluinn (irregular verb)

The irregular verb Cluinn means "to hear"

Cluinn is one of 12 irregular verbs in Gaelic.

Summary of forms

• Independent forms of the verb cluinn are used without any particles.
• Dependent forms of the verb cluinn are used after an, nach, and other verbal particles (except cha).
• Cha takes dependent forms but lenites the verb.
• Unlike regular verbs, the dependent past tense particle do is never used with cluinn.

context			independent	After Cha	Dependent
basic forms	active	past1	chuala		cuala
		Future	cluinnidh	chluinn	cluinn
		Relative Future1	---		chluinneas
	impersonal1	past	chualas (chualadh)		cualas (chualadh)
		future	cluinn(t)ear	chluinn(t)ear	cluinn(t)ear
		relative future	---
Conditional Mood	active		chluinneadh (chluinninn2 in 1st singular)		cluinneadh (cluinninn2 in 1st sing)
	impersonal		chluinnte (chluinnist in Lewis)		cluinnte (cluinnist in Lewis)
Imperative Mood	1st person	singular	cluinneam2	---
		plural	cluinneamaid2
	2nd person	singular	cluinn2
		plural	cluinnibh2
	3rd person		cluinneadh
verbal noun			cluinntinn (sometimes cluinnteil)

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
1	chuala mi	an cuala mi	cha chuala mi	nach cuala mi
2	chuala tu1	an cuala tu	cha chuala tu	nach cuala tu
3 masc	chuala e	an cuala e	cha chuala e	nach cuala e
3 fem	chuala i	an cuala i	cha chuala i	nach cuala i
1 pl	chuala sinn	an cuala sinn	cha chuala sinn	nach cuala sinn
2 pl	chuala sibh	an cuala sibh	cha chuala sibh	nach cuala sibh
3 pl	chuala iad	an cuala iad	cha chuala iad	nach cuala iad

1. Irregularly, the 2nd person pronoun shows up as tu instead of thu in the past, impersonal, and relative future forms of this verb.

Present tense

As is common in Gaelic, there is no present tense form of the verb. When a simple present meaning ("I hear something") or a progressive meaning (I am hearing something is intended, the periphrastic construction is used with the present tense of the verb bi (be) along with the verbal noun.

Tha	mi	a'	cluinntinn
be.pres	1s	prog	hear.vn
I'm hearing/I hear

Future tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question	Relative Future1
1	cluinnidh mi	an cluinn mi	cha chluinn mi	nach cluinn mi	a chluinneas mi
2	cluinnidh thu	an cluinn thu	cha chluinn thu	nach cluinn thu	a chluinneas tu2
3 masc	cluinnidh e	an cluinn e	cha chluinn e	nach cluinn e	a chluinneas e
3 fem	cluinnidh i	an cluinn i	cha chluinn i	nach cluinn i	a chluinneas i
1 pl	cluinnidh sinn	an cluinn sinn	cha chluinn sinn	nach cluinn sinn	a chluinneas sinn
2 pl	cluinnidh sibh	an cluinn sibh	cha chluinn sibh	nach cluinn sibh	a chluinneas sibh
3 pl	cluinnidh iad	an cluinn iad	cha chluinn iad	nach cluinn iad	a chluinneas 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.

---

Impersonal/Passive Voice

Past tense

	Declarative	Question	Negative	Negative Question
1	chualas mi	an cualas mi	cha chualas mi	nach cualas mi
2	chualas tu1	an cualas tu	cha chualas tu	nach cualas tu
3 masc	chualas e	an cualsa e	cha chualas e	nach cualas e
3 fem	chualas i	an cualas i	cha chualas i	nach cualas i
1 pl	chualas sinn	an cualas sinn	cha chualas sinn	nach cualas sinn
2 pl	chualas sibh	an cualas sibh	cha chualas sibh	nach cualas sibh
3 pl	chualas iad	an cualas iad	cha chualas iad	nach cualas 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 Future
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 tu
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

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

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

cluinneam 'let me hear' cluinn! "hear!" Cluinnibh "hear.pl!" cluinneadh e "let him hear"