Copula

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Copulae in Gaelic

  • Is
  • An
  • Cha(n)
  • gur
  • nach

Examples

examples taken from Fisher (2004)

  • Cò thusa
  • Is mise Mòrag
  • An tusa Ealasaid
  • Cha mhise Ealasaid
  • Chan ise Peigi
  • Is e am biadh feòil

The augment

the augment pronoun is used in clefts and in equative constructions.

Traditionally:

  • e used with masculine nouns Is e Iain a tha ...
  • i used with feminine nouns Is i Dollog a tha...
  • iad used with plural nouns: is iad na daoine a tha...
  • ann used with predicates (VPs, Adjective Phrases, Prepositions.

In the Modern Language:

  • e, i, and iad are all just replaced by e: 'S e na daoine a tha...


Uses

the copula is used to link to noun phrases:

  • Is ciobair Iain (predicative)
  • Is e Iain an ciobar (equative)

Used in clefts

Used in certain experiencer constructions

Constructions

  • Is toigh leam/Is toil leam I like

--

  • dè an dath "what is the color?:

See Also

Clefts
Copula (definition)

External Links

Copula from Wikipedia

References

Fisher, Muriel (2004) Scottish Gaelic: Level 1. Each-Mara Publications