Scottish Gaelic/Grammar

The imperative mood

When issuing a command, such as in the sentence 'eat your food!' or 'write me a story!' the word order in Gaelic is similar to the word order in English. Some examples would be:

• ith do bhiadh! -

eat your food!

ith! - eat!; do - your, thy; bhiadh - food;

• òl am bainne!

drink the milk!

òl! - drink!; am - the; bainne - milk;

• sgrìobh sin!

write that!

sgrìobh! - write!; sin - that;

• sgrìobh sgeul!

write a story!

sgrìobh! - write!; sgeul - a story;

• sgrìobh mi sgeul!

write me a story!

sgrìobh! - write; mi - me; sgeul - a story;

Articles

In Gaelic, the definite article (i.e. the word for 'the') can take the form an, am, nan, a' or na. For example:

• an leabhar

the book

an - the; leabhar - book;

• am bainne

the milk

am - the; bainne - milk;

• na lamhan

the hands

na - the; lamhan - hands;

• a' chaileag

the girl

a' - the; caileag - girl;

The word 'an' is used for many singular nouns unless they begin with the letters 'b', 'm' or 'p', in which case the word 'am' is often used. The word 'na' tends to be used in the plural but note that 'plural' in Gaelic means three or more.

There is no indefinite article (i.e. there is no word for 'a') either in the singular or in the plural. For example 'taigh' can mean 'house' or 'a house'. This is not a problem, really, when we consider that in English the indefinite article is omitted in the plural without really causing any confusion. For example 'houses' is the plural of 'house' or 'a house'. Here are some examples:

• tha cathair anns an seòmar

there is a chair in the room

tha - is; cathair - a chair; anns an - in the; seòmar - room;

• tha leabhar aig Iain

John has a book, John is in possession of a book

tha - is; leabhar - a book; aig - at; Iain - John;

Adjectives

Adjectives usually come after nouns. For instance 'leabhar mòr' means 'large book' or 'a large book' (leabhar - book; mòr - large).

Where a word is, for grammatical purposes, feminine, the adjective is modified at the beginning, often by placing an 'h' after the first letter of the adjective. For instance:

• balach mòr

a big boy

balach - boy; mòr - big;

• nighean mhòr

a big girl

nighean - girl; mhòr - big;

This addition of the letter 'h' immediately after the first letter tends to happen to adjectives beginning with the letters 'b', 'c', 'd', 'f', 'g', 'm', 'p', 's' or 't'

The verb 'to be'

• tha Seumas sgìth

James is tired (i.e. present tense)

• bha Seumas sgìth

James was tired (i.e. past tense)

• bidh Seumas sgìth

James will be tired (i.e. future tense)

• chan eil Seumas sgìth

James is not tired (i.e. present tense, negative)

• cha robh Seumas sgìth

James was not tired (i.e. past tense, negative)

• cha bhi Seumas sgìth

James will not be tired (i.e. future tense, negative)

• am bheil Seumas sgìth?

is James tired? (i.e. present tense, question)

• an robh Seumas sgìth?

was James tired? (i.e. past tense, question)

• am bidh Seumas sgìth?

will James be tired? (i.e. future tense, question)

• nach eil Seumas sgìth?

is James not tired? (i.e. present tense, negative question)

• nach robh Seumas sgìth?

was James not tired? (i.e. past tense, negative question)

• nach bi Seumas sgìth?

will James not be tired? (i.e. future tense, negative question)

• tha Seumas a' cluich

James is playing (i.e. present tense)

• bha Seumas a' cluich

James was playing (i.e. past tense)

• bidh Seumas a' cluich

James will be playing (i.e. future tense)

• Is e Seumas an lighiche

It is James that is the physician (i.e. present tense)

• Bu e Seumas an lighiche

It is James that was the physician (i.e. past tense)

Expressing 'to have'

There is no actual verb which translates as 'to have'. To say that a person has something we say that the something is 'at' the person. For instance, to say that John has a cup we say literally that 'a cup is at John'. For example

• tha cupan aig Iain

John has a cup (literally 'a cup is at John')

• tha taigh aig Anna

Anne has a house (literally 'a house is at Anne')

• chuir Anna sios an cupan aig Iain

Anna put down the cup belonging to Iain (literally 'Anna put down the cup at Iain')

• cha robh cupan aig Iain

Iain did not have a cup (literally 'a cup was not at Iain')

Expressing 'to own'

There is no actual verb which translates as 'to own'. To say that a person owns something we say that the something is 'with' the person. For instance, to say that John owns a house we say literally that 'a house is with John'. For example

• tha taigh le Iain

John owns a house (literally 'a house is with John')

• tha ball-coise le Anna

Anne owns a football (literally 'a football is with Anne')

Forming the present, past and future tense in regular verbs

The verb "cuir" is an example of a regular verb. The word "cuir" is the verb in the imperative mood, so "cuir!" means "put!". "cuir sios sin!" means "put that down!" ("sios" = "down", "sin" = "that"). To form the present tense we might say "tha X a' cuir" which literally means "X is a-putting" ("tha" = "is", "a' cuir" = "putting" or "a-putting"). To form the past tense (for verbs starting with "c" or "b", "d", "f", "m, "p", "s" or "t") we add the letter "h" after the first letter. To fom the future tense we add "idh" or "aidh" to the end of the word. Here are some examples:-

• tha Anna a' cuir bainne anns an copan

Anna is putting milk in the cup

• chuir Anna bainne anns an copan

Anna put (did put) milk in the cup

• cuiridh Anna bainne anns an copan

Anna will put milk in the cup