Tú have already learned past, present, agus future of the important verb “to be” in Gaeilge. Soon it will be time to visit some other verbs to see how they work, because they appear in songs, poetry, and conversation. First beidh muid review the kind of complicated sentences that tá tú already capable to producing. Try to translate the following sentences into Gaeilge, using the syntax (word order) of verb-subject-object. This will call not only on your skills of memory for the vocabulary, ach freisin on your ability to hold the syntax at the front of your mind at all times. Ádh mór (“good luck”)!

Sample sentence:

Tá cat mór sa teach.
(There is a large cat in the house.)

                                                                                                 
(Where is the tall man?)

                                                                                                 
(The woman is working in the garden.)

                                                                                                 
(He is a small bird, but she likes him.)

                                                                                                 
(I like hot tea)

                                                                                                 
(Your friend is from Arizona. It is warm there.)

                                                                                                 
(Would you like [some] tasty cake?)

                                                                                                 
(Where were you yesterday?)

                                                                                                 
(Her husband is here.)

                                                                                                 
(Their son is a good man.)

                                                                                                 
(I would like tea with milk [bainne] and sugar [siúcra], please.)

Anois we can move into more effective use of verbal nouns, which tend to be much more expeditious in terms of getting tú to say what tú want quickly (instead of memorizing sixty new words for each verb). In Step Seven tú learned fifteen new verbal nouns and practiced using them in a variety of sentences. The most commonly used ones tend to revolve around people’s daily activities (going, coming, working, eating, drinking, and sleeping). Here they are again:

ól – drinking, dul – going, scriobhneoireacht – writing, ithe – eating, teacht – coming, staidéar – studying, caint – talking, suigh – sitting, obair – working, codhladh – sleeping, deanamh – making, siopadóireacht – shopping, imirt – playing, imeacht – leaving, cócaireacht – cooking

What I would like tú to do anois is to see how easily these fit into the exact same kinds of sentences we have been using all along. Anseo are some sentences based on an earlier step (with the word lampa replaced by the word fear, “man”). Remember? Doesn’t it look surprisingly furasta (“easy”) anois? As you see, tá is the verb, an fear is the subject, and anseo is the object. Anois ba mhaith liom tú to think about adding ag (“at”) + a verbal noun from the list above (any verbal noun), between an fear and anseo. That might read tá an fear ag ól anseo (“the man is drinking here”), right? Right! Anois ba mhaith liom tú to follow each substitution as usual, but use a different verbal noun properly in each sentence. Yes, it could actually say that “the man is shopping in the bathroom” – your choice. If tú don’t use new vocabulary, it won’t enter your brain.

Sample sentences:

Tá an fear anseo. (there) = you write "tá an fear ag dul ansin."

Note the use of ag dul in the sentence, plus anseo is changed to ansin. You could have used ag obair or ag cócaireacht. Now write the same sentence with an focal as Gaeilge (the Irish word) for "over there." And use a different verbal noun each time (same main verb, same noun).

                                                                                                       
(in the garden -- lenite garden)

                                                                                                       
(in the garage -- lenite garage)

                                                                                                       
(in the house -- don't lenite house because t doesn't lenite in this context)

                                                                                                       
(in the bathroom -- don't lenite bathroom because l never lenites)

                                                                                                       
(in the kitchen -- lenite kitchen)

                                                                                                       
(in the pub -- lenite pub)

                                                                                                       
(in the class -- don't lenite classroom because r never lenites)

Anois let’s put these same sentences into past tense (bhí) nó ("or") future tense (beidh). Again, it’s your choice of how tú want to do these; we’ll read them aloud in class and every person’s take on this should be ceart (“correct”), ach difriúil (“different”) from each other’s.

                                                                                                       
(in the garden -- lenite garden)

                                                                                                       
(in the garage -- lenite garage)

                                                                                                       
(in the house -- don't lenite house because t doesn't lenite in this context)

                                                                                                       
(in the bathroom -- don't lenite bathroom because l never lenites)

                                                                                                       
(in the kitchen -- lenite kitchen)

                                                                                                       
(in the pub -- lenite pub)

                                                                                                       
(in the class -- don't lenite classroom because r never lenites)

Anois we’ll use questions of location in all three tenses (cá bhfuil, cá raibh, cá mbeidh) agus questions of veracity -- is it? was it? will it be? -- (an bhfuil, an raibh, an mbeidh). Same deal as above, but use a different verbal noun each time. To do this part of the assignment, choose a tense, then decide if you're asking where the person is doing a particular activity, or whether the person is doing an activity. Your choice.

Sample sentence starts with ól (drinking):

Cá bhfuil an fear ag ól? (sitting) -- you write, "cá bhfuil an fear ag suigh?"

                                                                                                       
(studying)

                                                                                                       
(working)

                                                                                                       
(talking)

                                                                                                       
(shopping)

                                                                                                       
(cooking)

                                                                                                       
(coming)

                                                                                                       
(going)

                                                                                                       
(sleeping)

Ceart go leor (“okay”): it’s time to add some of the many adjectives tú have learned over the last couple of weeks. Take the same sentences and add a different adjective to each one. Here are some adjectives:

mór (“big”), beag (“little”), sásta (“happy”), brón (“sad”), fearg (“angry”), tanaí (“thin”), ramhar (“fat”), dóighiúil (“handsome”), deas (“pretty”), gránna (“ugly”), fada (“long”), gearr (“short”), cairdiúil (“friendly”), tuirseach (“tired”), tinn (“sick”), broidiúil (“busy”).

Sample sentence starts with ól (drinking) AGUS mór (big):

Cá bhfuil an fear mór ag ól? (little, sitting) -- you write, "cá bhfuil an fear beag ag suigh?"

                                                                                                       
(happy, sleeping)

                                                                                                       
(busy, studying)

                                                                                                       
(angry, working)

                                                                                                       
(ugly, talking)

                                                                                                       
(sick, shopping)

                                                                                                       
(friendly, cooking)

                                                                                                       
(thin, coming)

                                                                                                       
(fat, going)

At this point, tú almost certainly understand much, much more about verbal nouns agus about easy ways to talk about things, people, agus places than tú did before anois. Just remember that if tú had been using a feminine noun instead of a masculine one, all the adjectives would have lenited as well. Some of this is just review, ach more importantly, it is intended to cement the ideas!

Focail in aisce:
hata … hat
héileacaptar … helicopter
heicteár … hectare
hob … hob (hearth)
hurá! … hoorah!