Leasan A h-Aon

The Gaelic Simple Sentence

The verb to be in English maps to two different verbs in Gaelic. One of these two verbs is Bi, the present tense of which is tha. Conjugating tha with the personal pronouns yields:

Tha mi I am

Tha thu You are (informal)

Tha e He is

Tha i She is

Tha sinn We are

Tha sibh You are (formal)

Tha iad They are

Note that gaelic has two personal pronouns for you, one corresponding to the informal situation of peers, children, friends, etc. The other form is a more formal one used for elders and other cases requiring a show of respect.

Tha is used in constructions linking a noun to a condition, e.g.:

James is tired. In Gaelic this would be

Tha Seumas sgìth. Note that the order of the elements is different from the english case and that the verb is first, followed by the subject, followed by the extensions and direct objects.

Here is a short list of vocabulary words to enable us to construct some simple sentences.

sgìth tired

fluich wet

teth hot

fuar cold

tinn sick

tioram dry

luath swift

dubh black

bàn fair, white

mór big, great

beag small, little

agus and

ach but

cù m. dog

cat m. cat

teine m. fire

dorus m. door

taigh m. house

falt m. hair

Seumas m. James

Màiri f. Mary

aig at

air on

anns in

an the, definite article

Now let us make some sentences.

Tha mi sgìth. I am tired.

Tha Seumas sgìth. James is tired.

Tha Màiri sgìth. Mary is tired.

Tha Seumas agus Màiri sgìth. James and Mary are tired.

Tha an teine teth. The fire is hot.

Tha Seumas anns an taigh. James is in the house.

Tha an cù aig an dorus ach tha an cat anns an taigh. The dog is at the door but the cat is in the house.

Tha Seumas fluich. Tha e fluich. James is wet. He is wet.

Tha Màiri tioram. Tha i tioram. Mary is dry. She is dry.

Tha mi sgìth agus tha thu sgìth. Tha sinn sgìth. I am tired and you are tired. We are tired.

Tha an cù mór ach tha an cat beag. The dog is big but the cat is small.

Tha an cù dubh ach tha an cat bàn. The dog is black but the cat is fair.

Tha an cù dubh anns an taigh. The black dog is in the house.

Tha Seumas mór aig an dorus. Big Seumas is at the door.

Tha falt bàn air Màiri agus tha falt dubh air Seumas.

lit: Fair hair is on Mary and black hair is on James.

Mary is fair-haired and James is black-haired.

Very good. Now we will look at the negation of tha. To express this we use chan eil and so conjugation yields:

Chan eil mi I am not

Chan eil thu You are not

Chan eil e He is not

Chan eil i She is not

Chan eil sinn We are not

Chan eil sibh You are not

Chan eil iad They are not

And while we are at it let us introduce the interogative nach eil.

Nach eil mi Am I not?

Nach eil thu Are you not?

Nach eil e Is he not?

Nach eil i Is she not?

Nach eil sinn Are we not?

Nach eil sibh Are you not?

Nach eil iad Are they not?

and the fully interogative:

A bheil mi Am I?

A bheil thu Are you?

A bheil e Is he?

A bheil i Is she?

A bheil sinn Are we?

A bheil sibh Are you?

A bheil iad Are they?

Here are some more sentences:

A bheil thu sgìth? Chan eil, chan eil mi sgìth.

lit: Are you tired? Am not, I am not tired.

Are you tired? No, I am not tired.

Nach eil i fluich? Tha, tha i fluich agus fuar.

lit: Is she not wet? Is, she is wet and cold.

Is she not wet? Yes, she is wet and cold.

Note that the response to the interrogative, either negative or positive, is the appropriate form of the verb. There is no form of yes or no in Gaelic.

A bheil sibh teth an-diugh? Tha mi teth ach chan eil Seumas teth. Are you hot today? I am hot but Seumas is not hot.

Nach eil Seumas sgìth? Chan eil ach tha e fluich agus fuar. Is not James tired? No but he is wet and cold.

A bheil Seumas fluich? Nach eil e tinn? Is James wet? Is not he sick?

Tha an cù mór agus an cat bàn anns an taigh. Tha iad tioram. The big dog and the fair-haired cat are in the house. They are dry.

Nach eil an cu dubh luath? Chan eil, chan eil e luath. Is not the black dog swift? No, he is not swift.

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