Book 3:
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Preface
Phonetics

eXERCISE cxxi

§ 692. Ba maiṫ leis ḃeiṫ 'na ríġ, he would like to be king. B'ḟearr liom ḃeiṫ im' (in mo) ḟear ḃoċt ná im' riġ. I'd rather be a poor man than be a king. Here we see how ḃeiṫ, like other parts of the verb atáim, requires the preposition in as already explained.

§ 693. Like all verbs in the past tense, ba, the past tense of is, should, strictly speaking have the particle do before it. The same is true of ba, the conditional mood of is. But in modern Irish we hardly ever say do ba ṁaiṫ liom, except in relative sentences, as we shall explain later on.

§ 694. The imperative mood of atáim—

§ 695. Note, bíoḋ (also spelled biḋeaḋ) retains to some extent the old pronunciation. Before aspiration of d the pronunciation was bíod (bee'-ădh), hence we have still (bee'-ăd) in Connaught and Ulster, before sé, sí, sinn, siḃ, siad (ie, the personal pronouns beginning with s). After aspiration bíodh was soudned (bee'-ăγ) the common (bee'-ăCH) is softened from this. In most of Ulster this (and so with all verbal terminations in -aḋ) sound is (bee'-oo). Bímis and bidís often written bíḋmis and biḋdís. In Munster bímis, with last syllable long. The use of bímid for bímis is common in colloquial Irish.

§ 696. Ná is the negative particle used with the imperative mood; as, ná bí ag caint, don't be talking.

§ 697. Translate into English

• Bíodh ciall agat.
• Ní'l ciall aca.
• Ná bíodh focal agat, bí do thost anois.
• Bímis ag dul a bhaile; is fearr dúinn bheith ag dul a bhaile, béidh an oichdhe dorcha.
• Ní raibh an oidhche dorcha ins an bhfoghmhar.
• Ní'l an oidhche so chomh geal leis an oidhche eile úd.
• Ná bidhidh mall, atá an oichdhe ag teacht orainn anois.
• An bhfuair tú beach uaidh?
• Fuair mé deoch uisge, agus do bhí an t-uisge chomh milis le mil.
• Biḋeann Art óg ag obair, ba ṁaiṫ leis ḃeiṫ 'na ḋoċtúir (γŭCH'-thoor, a doctor)
• Sin é an sgeul mar fuair mise é; agus má tá breug (brae'-ug, a lie) ins an sgeul bíoḋ.
• Atá an sgeul chomh fada agus chomh cam le sean-bhóthar.
• Biodh an fear óg nó aosta, bíodh sé 'na rígh nó 'na fhlaith.

§ 698. In the last sentence above it will be seen how bíoḋ, let him be, is often used to translate the word "whether"; "whether he is a king or a prince", literally "let him be a king or a prince".

• Béidhmid ag dul a bhaile i mbárach, bidheadh an lá fliuch nó tirim.
• Is léithi an t-airgead, bíodh sé aici.
• Ná bíodh fearg ort.
• Ná bíodh imnidhe oraibh, béith congnamh agaibh.
• An mbéidh Art ar an aonach indiu?
• Ní bhéidh, cheannuigh sé capall indé.
• Cad atá uait, a Diarmuid? Atá capall uaim.
• Ceannuigh an capall so uaim.
• Nach bhfuil sé ró-dhaor? Ní'l sé chomh daor leis an gcapall eile atá agat.

§ 699. Girr-ḟiaḋ (gir'-ee'ă) a hare, lit. a short deer; luaṫ (Loo'-ăh) swift.

• Do not be afraid. I was not afraid, and shal not be afraid.
• Who owns that white horse? The horse is not as white as the mare.
• The mare is ours.
• Will you be going hom now? No, I shall not be going home today.
• I shall be going home tomorrow.
• We shall be on the hill, and Cormac will be below at the river.
• The hound is not as swift as the hare, but he is as swift as the fox.
• The fox is red, the hound is black, the deer is brown.

note that
phonetic
symbols
are not
necessarily pronounced
as in English

See § 13-16