170
AN GAODHAL
mé, I, and is as much a 'synthesis', that
is, a joining together of the two words
tá and mé, as agam, at me; orm, on
me; liom, with me, is of ag, and mé,
me; air, on; and mé, le, with; and mé.
In some persons of the compound
pronouns, equally as of the verbs, this
synthetic union is not clearly, at first,
perceived; as, in leo, with them, com¬
pounded of le and iad; in bhidh-inn, I u¬
sed to be, compounded of bhidh and mé.
The Analytic is, in meaning, oppos¬
ed to Synthetic, and indicates that the
pronoun and verb are not combined in
one.
From the nature therefore of the syn¬
thetic form, it is plain the personal pro¬
nouns cannot, in the nominative case,
be expressed after the verb when con¬
jugated synthetically; and should the
personal pronouns be found so express¬
ed, they must be necessarily in the ob¬
jective case. Thus —
táim equal tá mé, I am.
táim mé equal tá mé, mé, I, I am
buailim mé equal buailidh mé mé,
I strike (I).
which clearly is very incorrect. Yet
the third person plural is excepted, and
is often elegantly employed, with this
double form of nominative case, to add
weight and strength to the ordinary
power of language.
The reader cannot fail to perceive, that inflecting
the verb synthetically, the third person singular
has not the pronoun combined with the verb, as
the other persons have, and he will naturally ask
the reason. It is, as Doctor O'Donovan remarks,
because the third person singular is always absent
and needs, therefore, be expressed, that its gender
may become known, whereas the first person of
speaker, and the person spoken to “being always
supposed to be present, there is no necessity of ma¬
king any distinction of gender in them."
When therefore, in the analytic form, the nom¬
inative or subject is, in the first and second person
singular and in all the persons of the plural, actu¬
ally expressed, one uninflected form of the verb
suffices for all, since the relation of its persons is
sufficiently marked by the subject, just as in Eng¬
lish ; I loved, thou lovest, he loved ; we loved, you
loved, they loved. The verbal form "loved” is the
same in each of five personal endings, yet from the
subject, or nominative, each person of the verb is
clearly known.
The Analytic Imperfect of the Verb “to be."
Singular
1. bhidheadh [veeyoo] mé
2. bhidheadh " tú
3. bhidheadh " sé or sí;
Plural.
1. bhidheadh [veeyoo] sinn.
2. bhidheadh " sibh.
3. bhidheadh & siad.
I was wont to be; thou wast wont to be ; he or
she was wont to be ; we were wont to be; you
were wont to be ; they were wont to be.
Vocabulary.
ar, whether [a is pronounced short], it
is put before the perfect tense, just as
an, whether, is put before the present
tense, when a question is asked.
ar, whom, or which, a rel. pronoun.
ar, our, a poss, pronoun, plural of mo,
my; ar in each of these instances is
pronounced urh (u short). It takes n
before a vowel; as, ar n-athair, our fa-
ther.
ár, slaughter; to plough, the action of
ploughing, bhi na daimh aig ár, the ox¬
en were ploughing; ploughed land.
ar, for air, upon; ar, for deir, says; as
air, or ar sé, says he.
beidh, will be, future tense of beith, to be
béil, poss. of beul, a mouth.
beith, to be, being; a being by excell¬
ence ; a lady.
budh, and ba, was; may be.
biadh, food.
buin, dat. or prepositional c. of bo, cow.
céim, a step; grade; dignity; as cois¬
chéim, a foot-step; árd-chéim, great dig¬
nity, high grade.
díreach, straight, direct.
duine, a person.
eic, poss. c. of each, a horse.
eile, (and in old Irish aile, and oile) a¬
nother. From eile and tíreach, one of
any (tír) country, is derived eiltreach,
and sometimes written oiltreach, a
stranger.
feárr, petter.
fóill, a while; go fóill, for a while,
yet; fan fo fóill, wait yet.
fa, for ; as, cad fa, for what.
faoi, under, for; as, cad faoi, under
what? i.e., on what account.
faoi, in; as, he is in power and respect,
tá sé faoi chéim, agus faoi mheas.
fáth, reason, cause; as, cia an fáth, what
reason; tá fáth le gach nidh, there is
