Book I:
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Preface
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exercise XLII

§ 256. F aspirated is silent

§ 257. Thus ḟuil is pronounced (il). The word which until now we have spelled níl, am not, art not, is not, are not, is really the shortened form of ní ḟuil (nee-il), and this is the form that we shall use henceforth.

§ 258. Fuair, got, found; fuair mé capall, I got a horse.. Ní ḟuair (nee oo'-ir), did not get , ní ḟuair mé sgilling, I did not get a shilling.

So also ní ḟaca (nee ok' ă), did not see, as ní ḟaca Séamus Peadar, James did not see Peter. In Munster, the form feaca, ḟeaca (faK- ă, aK'- ă) are used.

§ 259. Translate into English

• Ní ḟuil sgilling ag Peadar, ní ġuair sé sgilling ó Niall.
• Ní ḟaca an capall an tobar; ní ḟaca sinn an capall ag dul suas do’n tobar.
• Ní ḟuil Diarmuid ag obair ins an léana, agus ní ḟaca mé Art ins an sód.
• Níl réalt ar biṫ ins an spéir anois.
• Ní ḟuil mo ṗíopa in mo ṗóca, atá mo ṗíopa agat, a Ṡéamuis.
• Ní ḟaca mé do ṗíopa.

§ 260 Translate into Irish

• I did not see a ship or a boat on the water.
• Mall did not see the seagull in the sky.
• Cathal is not on the island -- Dermot did not see Cathal on the island.
• I did not see the man working.
• I got a shipping form Art, I did not get a pound from Art, I got a pound from Niall, and the pound and the shilling are in my pocket now.
• Nora is not below at the well, she is above on the cliff.

note that
phonetic
symbols
are not
necessarily pronounced
as in English

See § 13-16