VerbForm: form of verb or deverbative
In Irish, verb form is a feature of words which have the appearance of a verb, although they function as other parts of speech.
This feature appears most commonly as an infinitive construction, which functions as a noun. This feature also appears as a copula, a particle or a verbal noun.
Inf: infinitive
The infinitive verb form is the same as the verbal noun. The infinitive is always preceded by the infinitive particle a. This particle causes lenition in the verb, where possible (see Form).
Examples
Introduced by particle
- a dhéanamh “to do”
- a chur “to put”
- a rá “to talk”
Introduced by preposition
- le déanamh “to do”
- chun féachaint “to see”
- á rá “being said/saying”
Cop: copula
The copula verb form usually functions as a copula verb, though it can also be used as a mark, to introduce a complement clause, or as the root of the sentence. The order of elements in a copula construction is in general: copula, predicate (new or focussed information), and subject.
Examples
- Is mise Briain “I am Brian”
- Is é an watt (W) an t-aonad cumhachta “The watt (W) is the unit of power”
In the Irish treebank, the copula verb usually appears in its present tense form is, but has many other forms. It can combine wih other subordinate conjuctions or negative particles to form contractions, such as gur, ba, ní, etc. Also, the form of the verb bí changes with respect to tense, mood and context (see Form).
- Dá mba mise thú “If I were you”
- Más rud é “if it is a thing”
- Ar mhaith leat “would you like?”
- Dúirt sé gur múinteoir é “He said that he was a teacher”
Part: participle
The participle verb form indicates a verbal adjective. It can be used to modify the head noun, or to introduce an adjectival predicate complement. (see xcomp:pred) The participle is usually inflected by adding the suffix -te (-the) or -ta (-tha) to the lemma.
Examples
Adjectival modifier
- Gaeilge briste “broken Irish”
- na ndaoine fásta “the adults” lit. “the grown people”
-
Dé Domhnaigh seo caite “this past Sunday”
- Tá gearán déanta ag Unison “Unison have made a complaint”
- An mothaíonn tú sábháilte? “Do you feel safe?”
- Tá a lán scríofa ar an ábhar seo “There’s a lot written on this topic”
Vnoun: verbal noun
Verbal nouns are similar to an infinitive verb in English, however they function as a noun rather than a verb. They may be used to introduce a clausal complement, (see xcomp), as a conjunct, or as a root of the sentence. The noun is preceded by the preposition ag which loosely translates to “in the process of” in this context. The object of the verbal noun is in the genitive case (see Case).
Examples
- Beidh Máire Andrews ag insint scéalta difriúla “Mary Andrews will be telling different stories”
- Bhí Bhreandán ag caitheamh a chuid airgid “Brendan was spending his money”
- Bhí Éamonn ag obair go lánaimsireach “Eamon was working full-time”
VerbForm in other languages: [ab] [abq] [akk] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [cu] [cy] [el] [eme] [en] [es] [fi] [fr] [ga] [gub] [gun] [hbo] [hu] [hy] [it] [ka] [kpv] [ky] [la] [mdf] [myv] [orv] [pcm] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj] [xcl]