VERB

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`VERB`: verb

Description

Verbs typically inflect for tense and mood. Verbs signal events and actions. Verbs can constitute a minimal predicate in a clause, and govern the number and types of other constituents which may occur in the clause.

Irish is a VSO language, thus the verb comes first.

Irish verbs sometimes inflect for person in the form of synthetic verbs. (e.g. ithim “I eat”; ithimid “we eat”)

There are four moods: indicative, imperative, conditional and subjunctive. Tenses include present habitual, simple past, past habitual and future.

There is an autonomous verb form, which most closely correlates to the English passive. However it is not technically a passive form as the subject is “understood” and the nominal argument is an object (e.g. tugadh an liathróid dó “the ball was given to him” (lit. somebody gave the ball to him)).

Copula vs substantive verb ‘to be’

There are two translations of the English verb `to be’ in Irish:

Copula `is’
Substantive Verb `bí’

These forms behave very differently syntactically, yet both are labelled with the tag VERB.

copula The copula construction follows a COP PRED SUBJ order. An example of copula use is identity constructions (equating two noun phrases). Is múinteoir é “he is a teacher”. The copula is also part of the frequently used cleft/ fronting construction. These constructions are often used to show emphasis. (e.g. Is leabhar a thug sí dom “It’s a book she gave me”).

substantive bí The substantive verb behaves just like normal Irish verbs. It inflects for person, number and tense. It can never be used for an identity construction with two noun phrases. If it is used for identity, it follows the pattern of Verb NP PP (e.g. tá sé ina mhúinteoir “he is a teacher” (lit. He is in his teacher)) The pattern followed here is: VERB SUBJ PRED

The substantive verb is also used in conjunction with a verbal noun to form progressive aspectual phrases. (e.g. tá sé ag rith “he is running” (lit. he is at running)).

Examples

D’imigh mé “I left”
D’imíomar “We left”
Imím “I leave”
Imímid “We leave”
Imeoidh mé “I will leave”
Imeoimid “We will leave”
Cuirtear an leabhar ar an mbord “the book was put on the table”

Source: Studies in Irish Syntax. Nancy Stenson (1981), Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Treebank Statistics (UD_Irish)

There are 263 VERB lemmas (6%), 659 VERB types (11%) and 2301 VERB tokens (10%). Out of 16 observed tags, the rank of VERB is: 4 in number of lemmas, 3 in number of types and 4 in number of tokens.

The 10 most frequent VERB lemmas: bí, is, déan, cuir, tabhair, abair, tar, caith, feic, bain

The 10 most frequent VERB types: bhí, is, tá, raibh, atá, bhfuil, ba, gur, bheidh, beidh

The 10 most frequent ambiguous lemmas: is (VERB 379, PART 32), cuir (VERB 76, X 1), feic (VERB 30, NOUN 1), bain (VERB 29, ADJ 1), faigh (VERB 24, X 1), tóg (VERB 10, NOUN 1), dar (VERB 9, SCONJ 2, ADP 1), léirigh (VERB 9, NOUN 1), meas (VERB 9, NOUN 7), úsáid (NOUN 9, VERB 7)

The 10 most frequent ambiguous types: is (VERB 69, CONJ 40, PART 30, SCONJ 4), bhfuil (VERB 65, NOUN 1), ba (VERB 27, PART 1), gur (VERB 48, PART 39), ní (PART 28, VERB 18, NOUN 2), nach (PART 52, VERB 21), chuir (VERB 13, NOUN 1), níor (PART 9, VERB 3), ar (ADP 498, PART 12, VERB 9), dar (VERB 4, SCONJ 2)

is
- VERB 69: Cailín is ea í .
- CONJ 40: Is é mo bhrón is mo chumha gur imigh an uair .
- PART 30: Ar ndóigh , is mó an nádúrthacht a bhaineann le samplaí di ná a chéile .
- SCONJ 4: Fad is a bhí an sclábhaíocht idirnáisiúnta ar siúl aige , áfach bhí fadhbanna ag baile - ní gá ach smaoineamh ar an gconspóid reatha faoi Stephen Byers , nó an pharailís sa chóras Sláinte poiblí .
bhfuil
- VERB 65: Is léir ón teideal go bhfuil draíocht i gceist sa dráma seo .
- NOUN 1: Ach is lena aghaidh sin a ceapadh na boinn ídín , leis an bhfuil a choinneáil ag sodarnaíl .
ba
- VERB 27: Fataí agus coirce ba mhó a chuirtí .
- PART 1: Ba i dtithe lucht oibre ba mhó a bhí iarraidh ar Liabán agus iasacht airgid , ach bhí go_leor eile ag fáil airgid uaidh , fosta .
gur
- VERB 48: Creidtear gur go mailíseach a tosaíodh an tine .
- PART 39: Is é mo bhrón is mo chumha gur imigh an uair .
ní
- PART 28: Ní loitfeadh arm agus ní loiscfeadh tine é .
- VERB 18: Anois , ní mór dó an t-airgead a fháil ar_ais .
- NOUN 2: ’ Ar thug tú taisléine nó brat áise nó aon ní den tsórt leat , a naofacht ?
nach
- PART 52: Bheadh deis ag Conradh na Gaeilge nach raibh riamh cheana .
- VERB 21: Daoine nach iad .
chuir
- VERB 13: Gearradh téarma príosúnachta air , beart a chuir fearg ar an tír .
- NOUN 1: Chuir sé sin an ‘ t-ábhar bunaidh ‘ ar fáil do bhaill de na Cumainn Thíreolaíocha a bhí níos acadúla grúpa 2 thuas agus de_réir a chéile chuir siad sin a gcás le chéile ar_son tógáil na ‘ Tíreolaíochta ‘ mar dhisciplín ( Céim II thíos ) Ba mhór an chabhair : Chabhraigh sé chun tuairim na ‘ saorthrádála ‘ a spreagadh Níor chabhair : An ‘ Taiscéalaí mar laoch ‘ agus mar ghníomhaire Impiriúil : – Bhailigh siad eolas a bhí riachtanach chun cóilíniú a dhéanamh níos déanaí – d’ ullmhaigh an talamh go hintleachtúil chomh maith … Chuir sí an t-éadach anuas orthu agus bhí sí faoi réir le imtheacht in ath-uair … Chumfadh sé rann faoi rud bheag ar bith ar an saol .
níor
- PART 9: Má bhí cúrsaí go dona , níor thug an gasúr óg mórán airde air sin .
- VERB 3: Ní raibh aon chóras leasa shóisialta ag na Rómhánaigh , ach níor mhór do na himpirí a dheimhniú go mbeadh dóthain le hithe ag cách .
ar
- ADP 498: Tá urraíocht déanta ag Údarás na Gaeltachta ar an gclár seo .
- PART 12: Féadfaidh aon pháirtí ar theip ar a chuid aighneachtaí go hiomlán nó go páirteach a leithéid sin d’ achomharc a dhéanamh .
- VERB 9: ’ Maróidh tú uilig mé , ‘ ar sé .
dar
- VERB 4: Casadh eochair i nglas a raibh meirg na mblianta air , dar leat , ón díoscán gránna a rinne sé agus b’ iúd an doras ar leathadh romham .
- SCONJ 2: An mhaidin dar gcionn , dhúisigh mé go tobann agus d’ amharc mé timpeall orm .

Morphology

The form / lemma ratio of VERB is 2.505703 (the average of all parts of speech is 1.449988).

The 1st highest number of forms (39) was observed with the lemma “bí”: Bhíomar, Nílim, Tá’s, Táimid, Táthar, atá, atáimse, beadh, beidh, bheadh, bheidh, bheidís, bheifeá, bheimid, bhfuil, bhfuilimid, bhéidh, bhí, bhíodar, bhíodh, bhíonn, bhíos, bígí, bíodh, bíonn, fuil, mbeadh, mbeidh, mbeifear, mbeinn, mbínn, mbíodh, mbíonn, níl, nílirse, rabhas, rabhthas, raibh, tá.

The 2nd highest number of forms (28) was observed with the lemma “déan”: dhein, dhineann, dhéan, dhéanadh, dhéananna, dhéanfadh, dhéanfaidh, dhéanfainn, dhéanfar, dhéantar, dineadh, dintar, déan, déanaim, déanann, déanfaidh, déanfar, déanfidh, déantar, ndearna, ndearnadh, ndintar, ndéanann, ndéanfaidh, ndéanfar, ndéantar, rinne, rinneadh.

The 3rd highest number of forms (22) was observed with the lemma “cuir”: Chuiridís, Cuirfear, chuir, chuireadar, chuireadh, chuireann, chuireas, chuirfeadh, chuirtear, chuirtí, cuir, cuireadh, cuireann, cuirfead, cuirfidh, cuirfí, cuirtear, gcuireadh, gcuirfeadh, gcuirfinn, gcuirfí, gcuirtear.

VERB occurs with 13 features: ga-feat/Tense (2074; 90% instances), ga-feat/Mood (1893; 82% instances), ga-feat/Form (1196; 52% instances), ga-feat/VerbForm (390; 17% instances), ga-feat/Voice (250; 11% instances), ga-feat/Negative (208; 9% instances), ga-feat/PronType (150; 7% instances), ga-feat/Number (126; 5% instances), ga-feat/Person (124; 5% instances), ga-feat/Gender (3; 0% instances), ga-feat/Dialect (2; 0% instances), ga-feat/Case (1; 0% instances), ga-feat/PartType (1; 0% instances)

VERB occurs with 27 feature-value pairs: Case=Com, Dialect=Munster, Form=Ecl, Form=Emph, Form=Len, Form=VF, Gender=Masc, Mood=Cnd, Mood=Imp, Mood=Ind, Mood=Int, Mood=Sub, Negative=Neg, Number=Plur, Number=Sing, PartType=Comp, Person=1, Person=2, Person=3, PronType=Art, PronType=Dem, PronType=Rel, Tense=Fut, Tense=Past, Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Cop, Voice=Auto

VERB occurs with 126 feature combinations. The most frequent feature combination is Form=Len|Mood=Ind|Tense=Past (489 tokens). Examples: bhí, thug, tháinig, chuir, chuaigh, chaith, chonaic, tharla, bhain, ith

Relations

VERB nodes are attached to their parents using 16 different relations: ga-dep/root (655; 28% instances), ga-dep/acl:relcl (418; 18% instances), ga-dep/cop (369; 16% instances), ga-dep/advcl (235; 10% instances), ga-dep/ccomp (225; 10% instances), ga-dep/conj (160; 7% instances), ga-dep/csubj:cleft (133; 6% instances), ga-dep/csubj:cop (37; 2% instances), ga-dep/xcomp (28; 1% instances), ga-dep/parataxis (25; 1% instances), ga-dep/nmod (9; 0% instances), ga-dep/mark:prt (3; 0% instances), ga-dep/advmod (1; 0% instances), ga-dep/appos (1; 0% instances), ga-dep/case (1; 0% instances), ga-dep/compound (1; 0% instances)

Parents of VERB nodes belong to 14 different parts of speech: NOUN (695; 30% instances), ROOT (655; 28% instances), VERB (499; 22% instances), ADJ (185; 8% instances), ADP (101; 4% instances), PRON (78; 3% instances), PROPN (28; 1% instances), SCONJ (24; 1% instances), ADV (15; 1% instances), X (9; 0% instances), CONJ (8; 0% instances), PUNCT (2; 0% instances), DET (1; 0% instances), PART (1; 0% instances)

382 (17%) VERB nodes are leaves.

79 (3%) VERB nodes have one child.

339 (15%) VERB nodes have two children.

1501 (65%) VERB nodes have three or more children.

The highest child degree of a VERB node is 16.

Children of VERB nodes are attached using 31 different relations: ga-dep/nsubj (1370; 19% instances), ga-dep/nmod (1039; 14% instances), ga-dep/punct (1030; 14% instances), ga-dep/mark:prt (553; 8% instances), ga-dep/dobj (552; 8% instances), ga-dep/xcomp:pred (429; 6% instances), ga-dep/xcomp (417; 6% instances), ga-dep/advmod (312; 4% instances), ga-dep/mark (263; 4% instances), ga-dep/nmod:prep (259; 4% instances), ga-dep/ccomp (231; 3% instances), ga-dep/advcl (189; 3% instances), ga-dep/conj (185; 3% instances), ga-dep/cc (179; 2% instances), ga-dep/neg (82; 1% instances), ga-dep/nmod:tmod (37; 1% instances), ga-dep/compound (36; 0% instances), ga-dep/amod (30; 0% instances), ga-dep/nummod (29; 0% instances), ga-dep/case (26; 0% instances), ga-dep/parataxis (22; 0% instances), ga-dep/vocative (11; 0% instances), ga-dep/csubj:cleft (10; 0% instances), ga-dep/det (3; 0% instances), ga-dep/discourse (3; 0% instances), ga-dep/name (3; 0% instances), ga-dep/compound:prt (2; 0% instances), ga-dep/cop (2; 0% instances), ga-dep/csubj:cop (2; 0% instances), ga-dep/acl:relcl (1; 0% instances), ga-dep/foreign (1; 0% instances)

Children of VERB nodes belong to 15 different parts of speech: NOUN (2579; 35% instances), PUNCT (1030; 14% instances), PART (986; 13% instances), PRON (542; 7% instances), VERB (499; 7% instances), ADP (385; 5% instances), ADJ (279; 4% instances), SCONJ (253; 3% instances), CONJ (237; 3% instances), ADV (217; 3% instances), PROPN (216; 3% instances), X (55; 1% instances), NUM (22; 0% instances), DET (5; 0% instances), INTJ (3; 0% instances)

VERB in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]