AN GAOḊAL.
169
LESSONS IN GAELIC.
THE GAELIC ALPHABET.
Irish.
Roman.
Sound.
Irish.
Roman.
Sound.
a
a
aw
m
m
emm
b
b
bay
n
n
enn
c
c
kay
o
o
oh
d
d
dhay
p
p
pay
e
e
ay
r
r
arr
f
f
eff
s
s
ess
g
g
gay
t
t
thay
i
i
ee
u
u
oo
l
l
ell
XVIII. LESSON. — Continued
Translation of Exercise 1.
1. ḃ-fuil ann fear sean? 2. ní ḃ-fuil
sé sean, aċt tá an sean-ḟear a ḃí ann
so a nae anois marḃ. 3. ḃ-fuil an t-
sean ḃean anns an teaċ? 4. ní ḃ-fuil
aċt tá an ṁáṫair-ṁór anns an teaċ 5
ḃ-fuil agad máṫair-mhór beo? 6. tá,
agus aṫair-mór. 7. an sean-ḟear a ḃí
anns an teaċ a nae, an é d' aṫair-ṁór
é? 8. is é; agus an t-sean-ḃean a tá
an so an iuḋ, sí mo ṁáṫait-ṁór í. 9.
ḃ-fuil agad deáġ-ċroiḋe? 10. tá agam
deáġ-ċroiḋe agus deáġ-ṁéin; óir tá aig
gaċ uile deáġ-ḋuine deáġ-ċroiḋe agus
deáġ-méin. 11. An Tiġearna mo Ḋia
is árd-Tiġearna é air neaṁ agus air
talaṁ. 12. tá an t-Éireannaċ buan-
saoġalaċ. 13. ciannós ḃ-fuil do ċúr¬
am, or, an ṁuintir uile a tá faoi do
ċúram? 14 táid an ṁuintir faoi mo
ċúram slán. 15. ciannós a ḃ-fuil an
meud a tá faoi do ċúram, & faoi ċúr¬
am d' aṫar, agus faoi ċúram d' aṫar-
ṁóir? 16. is ionṁuin liom do ċliú &
do ċáil. 17. Oċ! mo ḃrón, naċ ḃ-fuil
sonas ort. 18. Oċ! mo ṫaisge, agus
mo ṡearc ġráḋ, naċ mór mo ġean ort!
19. Ṁáire, ċuisle mo ċroiḋe, bláṫ na
finne. 20. is tú mo ḃrón, agus mo ṡóġ!
m' onóir agus mo náire; mo ḃeaṫa ag¬
us mo ḃás.
LESSON XIX.
Conjugation of the verb “to be" do
ḃeiṫ, continued.
Indicative mood — Imperfect Tense.
This tense is called by some the 'ha¬
bitual past' because it expresses no par¬
ticular action, or state of being, but a
habit, or action repeated in the one case
and a continued state of existence in
the other. We call it by the name Im¬
perfect, in order to conform to the es¬
tablished divisioins of 'Tense,' and be¬
cause it agrees very closely with the
'Imperfect' in Greek, Latin, and French
verbs. The first letter of this tense is
aspirated, if it be one of the nine mu¬
table consonants.
Singular.
1. ḃiḋ-inn, 'veeyinn', I was wont to be.
2. ḃiḋṫeá, 'veehaw', thou was "
3. ḃiḋeaḋ sé, 'veeyoo shay', he "
Plural.
1. ḃiḋ-mis, 'veemush', we were wont to
be.
2. ḃiḋ-ṫí, 'veehee', you were wont to be.
3. ḃiḋ-dís, 'veedesh', they were wont
to be.
This tense, of which the Irish-speak¬
ing people make such frequent use, is
by them translated, when conversing
in English, by the words "used to be."
The interrogative form is gone thro'
by placing the particle an, whether, be¬
fore each of the persons; as, an ḃiḋinn,
was I wont to be, &c.
The verbal form of the third person
singular, ḃiḋeaḋ, with the personal pro¬
noun mé, I; tú, thou (you); sé, he (it);
sí, she (it); sinn, we; siḃ, you; siad
they; placed after it, gives the analyt¬
ic conjugation of this tense.
OBS — eaḋ, and aḋ, final, is, in Con¬
naught, pronounced oo (English); in
Munster, 'a'. As the final syllable of
the imperfect tense, it is pronounced
incorrectly in Munster, and in some
districts in the southern parts of Con¬
naught like agh, guttural. Of the sound
of aḋ final, we shall treat in another
Lesson.
The word synthetic, as applied to the
conjugation of Irish verbs, means that
the personal pronouns mé, tú, sinn, siḃ,
siad, are, in each tense, combined with
the verb, so as to make one word, thus,
táim, I am, is composed of tá, am, and
