Irish Translation Forum

Hi folks,
Just wondering could you help on this one.

Can you tell me how to form the past tense of the "Is" verb.

E.g - Is innealtóir mé.

I want to say "I was an engineer"

Thanks in advance,
Cormac

Oh and also on the same topic really.

Do you like America - An maith leat Meiriceá
How would I say.....Did you like America? i.e a past experience

Cheers

C_OBOYLE_C wrote:Hi folks,
Just wondering could you help on this one.

Can you tell me how to form the past tense of the "Is" verb.

E.g - Is innealtóir mé.

I want to say "I was an engineer"

Thanks in advance,
Cormac

The past of Is is Ba:

B'innealtóir mé "I was an engineer"

C_OBOYLE_C wrote:Oh and also on the same topic really.

Do you like America - An maith leat Meiriceá
How would I say.....Did you like America? i.e a past experience

Cheers

Theoretically, Ba mhaith liom Meiriceá but that actually means "I would like (to have) America".

To avoid this ambiguity, the following is usually used:

Ar thaitin Meiriceá leat? (or Ar thaithnigh Meireacá leat? in Connemara) "Did you like America?" literally "Did America please you?"

Ceist ana mhaith atá sé. I just realised I didn't know that either.

So the Ba gets contracted to B' because of the vowel I guess, but what about I was an accountant? Ba cuntasóir mé? That feels really unantural!

I also only ever learned ar thaitin Meiriceá leat? I think I will be sticking to that I dont need Ba was/would confusing me.

Ba causes lenition (séimhiú):

Ba chuntasóir mé "I was an accountant"

or you can say Bhí mé i mo chuntasóir.

Maybe it sounds weird in the first person. The following might sound more natural:

Ba chuntasóir é m'athair "My father was an accountant"

Also:

Cúntasóir ab ea m'athair

Antóin wrote:Also:

Cuntasóir ab ea m'athair

~ ab ea ~ would be preferred construction in Munster.

Ba chuntasóir é m'athair would be the preferred formula in Connemara, I think.

And in Ulster I think they would drop the extra pronoun:

Ba chuntasóir m'athair

Go hionntach lads.
also, Would I be correct in saying that for the purposes of the leaving Irish they prefer people to use "Connacht" dialect?

I'm really impressed with how comprehensive and quick the feedback is on this site. Fair play to yee.
I'm re-sitting the Irish leaving cert this year. (last time was 18 yrs ago, yikes!) I'm studing it in Korea before I come home
next month so you guys are my ONLY crutch for now.
Mar sin céad Míle Buíochas libh.

Would I be correct in saying that for the purposes of the leaving Irish they prefer people to use "Connacht" dialect?

People disagree on the extent of regional influence, but the Caighdeán Oifigiúil (the "official standard"), or "CO", clearly started out years ago being much more Munster-oriented than anything else, but was later revised so that it is much more Connacht-influenced. Someone on the forum recently said that it's largely Connacht Irish with the more distinctively dialectical parts taken out, and a friend in Ireland told me to think roughly 60% Connacht, 30% Munster, and 10% Ulster Irish in terms of the dialectical differences which have been made part of the CO.

C_OBOYLE_C wrote:Go hionntach lads.
also, Would I be correct in saying that for the purposes of the leaving Irish they prefer people to use "Connacht" dialect?

I'm really impressed with how comprehensive and quick the feedback is on this site. Fair play to yee.
I'm re-sitting the Irish leaving cert this year. (last time was 18 yrs ago, yikes!) I'm studing it in Korea before I come home
next month so you guys are my ONLY crutch for now.
Mar sin céad Míle Buíochas libh.

For the leaving cert. I would say to stick to the caighdeán as much as possible. In any case, I think it's a good foundation for anybody studying the language unless you intend settling down in whatever patchín of fíor-ghaeltacht still exists. You can always concentrate on a particular dialect once you've got the basics.
I'm not up to date on the learning material presently recommend for exams.

Feel free to ask questions here even though you'll prbably get ten different answers for every question.

Daltaí.com is another place where you'll get help, even though some of the contributors there are obsessed with dialectology.

http://www.daltai.com/forums/viewforum/2/

also:

http://irishlearner.awyr.com/phpBB3/

Go n-éirí leat sna scrúdaithe, nó go n-éirí na scrúdaithe leat.