THE VERB (an briathar)

[ from First Irish Grammar, revised and enlarged by The Christian Brothers, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, c. 1920 ]
[ Paragraph numbers are from the larger Graiméar na Gaedhilge, c. 1902 ]

247. In Irish there are two conjugations. They are distinguished by the formation of the future tense. In the first conjugation the 1st pers. sing. of the future ends in fad or fead, and in the second conjugation it ends in (e)óchad.

Each of the conjugations has three forms—(1) the Synthetic, (2) the Analytic, (3) the Autonomous.

249. The synthetic form is that in which the persons are expressed by inflections, e.g., do mholas é.

In the analytic there is only one form and the persons are expressed by means of pronouns, e.g., do mhol mé é.

In the autonomous form the action of the verb is merely expressed, without mentioning the subject, e.g., do moladh é.

253. There are three moods—the Imperative; the Indicative; and the Subjunctive.

The Imperative has only one tense—the present. The Indicative has five tenses—the present, the imperfect, the past, the future, and the conditional (or secondary future). The Subjunctive has two tenses—the present and the past.

261. In both conjugations there are two sets of terminations—(1) the broad, (2) the slender. The first set is used with verb-stems ending in a broad consonant; the second with those which end in a slender consonant.

FIRST CONJUGATION

The Analytic Forms of the tenses given above are exactly like the forms of the 3rd person singular of the various tenses. The analytic form is not used in the 1st person singular, present tense, and is rarely found in the 1st and 2nd person singular, imperfect tense. The second i in the terminations imíd, aimíd, etc., is not pronounced long in Connaught or Ulster.

276. The Past, the Imperfect, and the Conditional are usually preceded by the particle do when no other particle precedes them. In the spoken language do is often omitted, except when the verb begins with a vowel or f, or an unaspirable consonant. The d’ has become so closely united to the verb, when the latter begins with a vowel, that we frequently find it aspirated, just as if the verb began with this consonant, e.g., Níor d’ól sé braon (for níor ól sé); An tusa an garsún a d’oscail an doras?

The initial of the autonomous form is not usually aspirated, e.g., Do briseadh an fhuinneog; do h-árduigheadh an seol.

The Relative form is the same as the 3rd person singular in all the tenses, except the present and the future (in Connaught and Ulster).

278. The particle used formerly before the past tense was ro. It is now never used by itself, but it occurs in the following compounds:—

Ar, whether (an+ro); gur, that (go+ro); cár, where (cá+ro); níor, not; murar (or munar), unless; nár, that not; dár, of all those who (whom), to whom; ler, by whom, by which; cé’r, who was. (This last form is used only with the verb is).

These compounds of ro are not, however, used before the following Past tense forms:— fuaras, faca(s), rabhas, deagha(s), deachas, dearna(s) and (in Munster) adubhart.

Usage now differs in the case of the verbs tángas, tugas, chuala(s) and rugas.

282. In the first conjugation the t in all terminations beginning with this letter is generally aspirated, except when the stem ends in one of the consonants, d, n, t, l, s, th, ch, dh, gh, e.g., chuirtheá; curtha.

SECOND CONJUGATION

291. The second conjugation comprises (1) verbs of two or more syllables whose stems end in igh, or uigh, and (2) syncopated verbs.

293. Verbs in igh

[slender]               [broad]
Bailigh, gather.   Ceannuigh, buy.

Derived verbs in (u)igh have exactly the same inflections as those of buail in all the tenses, except the future and the conditional.

SYNCOPATED VERBS

292. Verbs of more than one syllable whose stems end in il, in, ir, is or ing, belong to this class.

[broad]               [slender]
Fuagair, proclaim.   Coigil, spare.

All the tense endings (except future and conditional) of fuagair are like those of mol, the stem being fuagr; those of coigil are like buail, the stem being coigl. The 3rd person singular, past tense is d’fhuagair sé and choigil sé; the 2nd person singular, imperfect, d’fhuagarthá and choigilteá. See Syncope, § 33.

Future Tense
fuagróchad, &c., like ceannóchad.
coigleochad, &c., like baileochad.

Conditional
d’fuaghróchainn, &c., like cheannóchainn.
choigleochainn, &c., like bhaileochainn.

Verbal Noun
fuagart; coigilt.

Verbal Adjective
fuagartha; coigilte.