Irish Verb Tutorial
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:03 am
I recently put together a handout on conjugating regular verbs in Irish for an adult beginners' class I'm teaching. I thought that folks here might find it useful as well:
REGULAR VERBS IN IRISH
ROOT FORM
Unlike verbs in most languages, Irish verbs don’t have an infinitive form (“to eat,” “to walk,” etc.). Instead, the singular imperative (“command”) form of the verb is its “root form”…that is, the basic form of the verb you will find when you look it up in the dictionary. For example:
Can (sing)
Rith (run)
Ól (drink)
Fan (wait)
Éirigh (rise/get up)
Ceannaigh (buy)
Codail (sleep)
Oscail (open)
CONJUGATIONS
Irish has two “classes” or “conjugations” of verbs. These “conjugations” differ slighting in the endings they take in the present and future tense.
FIRST CONJUGATION
First conjugation verbs are the simplest. Most first conjugation verbs have one-syllable roots (in the example above, "can," "rith," "ól" and "fan" are all first conjugation). They form their present tense by adding –ann or –eann to the root, followed by the subject or subject pronoun:
Canann sé amhrán: He sings/is singing a song
Ritheann an madadh: The dog runs/is running
Ólann an fear tae: The man drinks/is drinking tea
They form their future tense by adding the ending –fidh or –faidh to the root:
Canfaidh mé an amhrán: I will sing the song
Rithfidh sí amach: She will run outside
Ólfaidh sibh bhur gcuid bainne ar dtús: You (pl.) will drink your milk first
SECOND CONJUGATION
Second conjugation verbs usually have two-syllable roots. Frequently, these end in –igh or –aigh, though occasionally they end in l, n, m or r (in the example above, "éirigh," "ceannaigh," "codail" and "oscail" are second conjugation). Second conjugation verbs are more variable than first conjugation verbs, but in general:
Second conjugation verbs that end in –igh or –aigh form their present tense by dropping the “igh” and adding “-íonn”:
Éiríonn sé ag a seacht gach maidin: He gets up at seven every morning.
Ceannaíonn siad bia ag an ollmhargadh: They buy food at the supermarket.
Second conjugation verbs that end in a consonant typically “syncopate”…that is, they drop the unstressed vowel sound in front of the final consonant and add the ending “-aíonn”:
Codlaíonn sé ansin: He sleeps there (root form of the verb is “codail”)
Osclaíonn an cailín an dóras: The girl opens the door (root form of the verb is “oscail”)
Second conjugation verbs form the future tense by dropping “-igh” (or syncopating, in the case of verbs that end in a consonant) and adding “-eóidh” or “-óidh”:
Éireóidh mé ag a seacht amárach: I will get up at seven tomorrow
Ceannóidh sé nuachtán duit sa chathair: He will buy you a newspaper in the city.
Codlóidh tú ansin san oíche: You will sleep there tonight.
Osclóidh sí an dóras duit: She will open the door for you.
A common exception to the second conjugation rule is the verb "foghlaim" (learn). Unlike most second conjugation verbs that end in a consonant sound, "foghlaim" doesn't syncopate. Instead, it simply adds the second conjugation endings to its root form:
Foghlaimíonn siad go maith: They are learning well
Foghlaimeóidh mé briathra Gaeilge lá éigin!: I will learn Irish verbs someday!
PAST TENSE
Regardless of conjugation, regular verbs form their past tense in one of four ways:
1) If the root begins with a lenitable consonant (i.e., any consonant other than l,n,or r), it is lenited -- that is, an "h" is inserted after the initial consonant, or, in the old writing, a dot is placed over the consonant to indicate that it is "softened":
Chan an bhean an t-amhrán is fearr liom: The woman sang my favorite song
Cheannaigh siad carr i nGaillimh: They bought a car in Galway
2) If the root begins with an unlenitable consonant, it is used as-is:
Rith an cat istigh sa teach: The cat ran into the house
3) If the root begins with a vowel, it is preceded by d’:
D’ól an fear seo an bheoir uilig: That man drank all the beer.
D’éirigh an bhean as a cathaoir: The woman arose from her chair
4) if the root begins with “f,” it takes both the lenition and the d’ prefix (“f” is lenited because it is a lenitable consonant, then the “d’” become necessary because “fh” is silent, resulting in a word starting with a vowel sound):
D’fhan sí ag an stáisiún: She waited at the station.
D'fhoghlaim mé mo chuid Gaeilge i nDún na nGall: I learned my Irish in Donegal.
SPECIAL FIRST-PERSON ENDINGS FOR PRESENT TENSE VERBS
In most cases, the regular present tense form of the verb is used in front of a pronoun:
Canann sé: He sings/is singing
Éiríonn sí: She arises/is arising
The singular first person (and, in Munster, the plural first person) is an exception.
1) If the present tense ends with “-ann,” the “nn” is dropped and the ending “-im” is added:
Canaim: I sing/am singing
Ólaim: I drink/am drinking
2) if the present tense ends with “-eann,” the entire suffix drops off and is replaced by
“-im”:
Rithim: I run/am running
3) If the present tense ends with “-íonn,” the “-onn” drops off, and “-m” is added:
Éirím: I arise/am arising
Ceannaím: I buy/am buying.
MAKING A VERB NEGATIVE:
If the verb is in the present or future tense:
Put “ní” in front of it, and lenite the consonant if possible. Vowels and unlenitable consonants remain unchanged:
Ní chanann muid le chéile: We don’t sing together
Ní éirím ag a seacht sa maidin: I don’t get up at seven in the morning
Ní rithfidh an madadh: The dog will not run.
If the verb is in the past tense, put “níor” in front of it, and lenite the consonant if possible. Vowels and unlenitable consonants remain unchanged, but the “d’” prefix is removed from verbs beginning with a vowel or fh:
Níor chan mé an amhrán seo: I didn’t sing that song
Níor rith an cat isteach: The cat didn’t run inside
Níor éirigh sé inné: He didn’t get up yesterday.
Níor fhan muid ag an stáisiún: We didn’t wait at the station.
EXERCISE
Using the English section of an Irish-English/English-Irish dictionary, look up the following verbs, determine if they are first or second conjugation, then conjugate them following the rules above:
Grow Reap Break
Walk Start/begin Cut
Stand Leave/go away Clean
Next week we will look at how to ask and answer questions using the regular verbs, and we will also meet a couple of the irregular verbs (there are only 11, so don't panic!).
REGULAR VERBS IN IRISH
ROOT FORM
Unlike verbs in most languages, Irish verbs don’t have an infinitive form (“to eat,” “to walk,” etc.). Instead, the singular imperative (“command”) form of the verb is its “root form”…that is, the basic form of the verb you will find when you look it up in the dictionary. For example:
Can (sing)
Rith (run)
Ól (drink)
Fan (wait)
Éirigh (rise/get up)
Ceannaigh (buy)
Codail (sleep)
Oscail (open)
CONJUGATIONS
Irish has two “classes” or “conjugations” of verbs. These “conjugations” differ slighting in the endings they take in the present and future tense.
FIRST CONJUGATION
First conjugation verbs are the simplest. Most first conjugation verbs have one-syllable roots (in the example above, "can," "rith," "ól" and "fan" are all first conjugation). They form their present tense by adding –ann or –eann to the root, followed by the subject or subject pronoun:
Canann sé amhrán: He sings/is singing a song
Ritheann an madadh: The dog runs/is running
Ólann an fear tae: The man drinks/is drinking tea
They form their future tense by adding the ending –fidh or –faidh to the root:
Canfaidh mé an amhrán: I will sing the song
Rithfidh sí amach: She will run outside
Ólfaidh sibh bhur gcuid bainne ar dtús: You (pl.) will drink your milk first
SECOND CONJUGATION
Second conjugation verbs usually have two-syllable roots. Frequently, these end in –igh or –aigh, though occasionally they end in l, n, m or r (in the example above, "éirigh," "ceannaigh," "codail" and "oscail" are second conjugation). Second conjugation verbs are more variable than first conjugation verbs, but in general:
Second conjugation verbs that end in –igh or –aigh form their present tense by dropping the “igh” and adding “-íonn”:
Éiríonn sé ag a seacht gach maidin: He gets up at seven every morning.
Ceannaíonn siad bia ag an ollmhargadh: They buy food at the supermarket.
Second conjugation verbs that end in a consonant typically “syncopate”…that is, they drop the unstressed vowel sound in front of the final consonant and add the ending “-aíonn”:
Codlaíonn sé ansin: He sleeps there (root form of the verb is “codail”)
Osclaíonn an cailín an dóras: The girl opens the door (root form of the verb is “oscail”)
Second conjugation verbs form the future tense by dropping “-igh” (or syncopating, in the case of verbs that end in a consonant) and adding “-eóidh” or “-óidh”:
Éireóidh mé ag a seacht amárach: I will get up at seven tomorrow
Ceannóidh sé nuachtán duit sa chathair: He will buy you a newspaper in the city.
Codlóidh tú ansin san oíche: You will sleep there tonight.
Osclóidh sí an dóras duit: She will open the door for you.
A common exception to the second conjugation rule is the verb "foghlaim" (learn). Unlike most second conjugation verbs that end in a consonant sound, "foghlaim" doesn't syncopate. Instead, it simply adds the second conjugation endings to its root form:
Foghlaimíonn siad go maith: They are learning well
Foghlaimeóidh mé briathra Gaeilge lá éigin!: I will learn Irish verbs someday!
PAST TENSE
Regardless of conjugation, regular verbs form their past tense in one of four ways:
1) If the root begins with a lenitable consonant (i.e., any consonant other than l,n,or r), it is lenited -- that is, an "h" is inserted after the initial consonant, or, in the old writing, a dot is placed over the consonant to indicate that it is "softened":
Chan an bhean an t-amhrán is fearr liom: The woman sang my favorite song
Cheannaigh siad carr i nGaillimh: They bought a car in Galway
2) If the root begins with an unlenitable consonant, it is used as-is:
Rith an cat istigh sa teach: The cat ran into the house
3) If the root begins with a vowel, it is preceded by d’:
D’ól an fear seo an bheoir uilig: That man drank all the beer.
D’éirigh an bhean as a cathaoir: The woman arose from her chair
4) if the root begins with “f,” it takes both the lenition and the d’ prefix (“f” is lenited because it is a lenitable consonant, then the “d’” become necessary because “fh” is silent, resulting in a word starting with a vowel sound):
D’fhan sí ag an stáisiún: She waited at the station.
D'fhoghlaim mé mo chuid Gaeilge i nDún na nGall: I learned my Irish in Donegal.
SPECIAL FIRST-PERSON ENDINGS FOR PRESENT TENSE VERBS
In most cases, the regular present tense form of the verb is used in front of a pronoun:
Canann sé: He sings/is singing
Éiríonn sí: She arises/is arising
The singular first person (and, in Munster, the plural first person) is an exception.
1) If the present tense ends with “-ann,” the “nn” is dropped and the ending “-im” is added:
Canaim: I sing/am singing
Ólaim: I drink/am drinking
2) if the present tense ends with “-eann,” the entire suffix drops off and is replaced by
“-im”:
Rithim: I run/am running
3) If the present tense ends with “-íonn,” the “-onn” drops off, and “-m” is added:
Éirím: I arise/am arising
Ceannaím: I buy/am buying.
MAKING A VERB NEGATIVE:
If the verb is in the present or future tense:
Put “ní” in front of it, and lenite the consonant if possible. Vowels and unlenitable consonants remain unchanged:
Ní chanann muid le chéile: We don’t sing together
Ní éirím ag a seacht sa maidin: I don’t get up at seven in the morning
Ní rithfidh an madadh: The dog will not run.
If the verb is in the past tense, put “níor” in front of it, and lenite the consonant if possible. Vowels and unlenitable consonants remain unchanged, but the “d’” prefix is removed from verbs beginning with a vowel or fh:
Níor chan mé an amhrán seo: I didn’t sing that song
Níor rith an cat isteach: The cat didn’t run inside
Níor éirigh sé inné: He didn’t get up yesterday.
Níor fhan muid ag an stáisiún: We didn’t wait at the station.
EXERCISE
Using the English section of an Irish-English/English-Irish dictionary, look up the following verbs, determine if they are first or second conjugation, then conjugate them following the rules above:
Grow Reap Break
Walk Start/begin Cut
Stand Leave/go away Clean
Next week we will look at how to ask and answer questions using the regular verbs, and we will also meet a couple of the irregular verbs (there are only 11, so don't panic!).