Polarity: whether the word can be or is negated
There is no word for “yes” or “no” in Irish. Instead, a negative particle is used in combination with the verb to give a negative polarity.
Neg: negative
The negative particle ní* can be used in almost every tense, except the past. It causes lenition to relevant consonants (see Form), otherwise there is no change. In the past tense the particle is written as níor, and does not trigger any further lenition, though the word may already be lenited due to past tense morphology (see Tense).
*In the Ulster dialect, this particle also appears as cha (see Dialect)
Examples
- Ní thuigim “I don’t understand”
- Níor ól sé “He didn’t drink”
The interrogative negative particle nach is used to pose a negative question, or to introduce a clausal complement (see PartType).
Examples
- Nach bhfuil tú? “Aren’t you?”
- Dhaoine nach ndearna scannán riamh “People who haven’t ever made a film”
The verb “to be” (in Irish bí) is given the negative form níl in the present tense, as a contraction of ní bhfuil. It can inflect to show (for instance) person.
Examples
- Níl sé sin mí-réasúnta “That is not unreasonable”
- Ach nílirse sásta “But you aren’t happy”
Polarity in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [fr] [ga] [gd] [gub] [hy] [jaa] [ky] [pcm] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj] [xcl]