Irish Translation Forum

This is the fourth in a series of threads designed to help you improve your Irish by practicing with others. To give us a common core of words and phrases, we will refer you to online lessons, occasionally supplemented with our own phrase lists.

You can join this series at any time, at any thread. Click on the link below to find the first thread in the series, or a list of all the threads in the series.

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Most of the conversation in this thread will come from earlier threads, or from:

- http://www.erinsweb.com/gaelic1.html lessons 10, 11, and 12
- The "cheat sheet" below

Lessons 10, 11, and 12 on Erin's Web focus on when to use tá and when to use the copula is. That shouldn't be too difficult for you if you've been participating in our previous practice threads and playing Fiche Ceist. So below I've given you some sentence structures that will allow us to talk about the past and future.

Cheat sheet
You're familiar now with tá, which is the present tense of the verb bí. If you've been hanging around here for a while, you may have picked up some other forms of the verb. Here's a handy table:

Code: Select all

+---------+---------------+--------+------------+
|         | Bhí           | mé     | anseo      |
| Past    | An raibh...?  | tú     | ansin      |
|         | Ní raibh      | sé     | ann        |
+---------+---------------+ sí     | tinn       |
|         | Tá            | muid   | ard        |
| Present | An bhfuil...? | sibh   | sásta      |
|         | Níl           | siad   | láidir     |
+---------+---------------+ Cáit   | go hálainn |
|         | Beidh         | Seán   | go dona    |
| Future  | An mbeidh...? | an cat | . . .      |
|         | Ní bheidh     | . . .  |            |
+---------+---------------+--------+------------+


Pronunciation
Bhí VEE
An raibh AN ROW
Ní raibh NEE ROW
Beidh BAY
An meidh UN MAY
Ní bheidh NEE VAY

There are also a few combined forms that are used in some dialects. Until you're ready to focus on one dialect in particular, you can use either form:
táim = tá mé
táimid = tá muid
bhíomar = bhí muid
beimid = beidh muid

Here are some questions to help get the conversation flowing. If any of the words below are unfamiliar, you should be able to find them in the previous lessons, or you can ask here on this thread.

Anois...
Now...
Cá bhfuil tú i do chónaí?
Cad é an aimsir inniú?
An maith leat seacláid?
An bhfuil tú óg? Sean?
An bhfuil Gaeilge easca?


Nuair a bhí tú óg...
When you were young...
An raibh tú mór?
An raibh tú beag?
An raibh tú sean?
An raibh tú salach?
An raibh tú dána?
Cá raibh tú i do chónaí?

Nuair a bheidh tú sean...
When you are old...
An mbeidh tú dathiúil?
An mbeidh tú láidir?
An mbeidh tú lag?
An mbeidh tú tuirseach?

Nuair a bhí mé óg, bhí mé beag. Ní raibh mé dána. Bhí mé i mo chónaí sa Stáit Aontaithe.

Anois, tá mé i mo chónaí in Dhún na nGall. Tá mé réasúnta ládir. Is breá liom seacláid.

Nuair a bhí mé óg, bhí mé i mo chónaí in Spokane, Washington, S.A.M. Anois, tá mé i mo chónaí in California.

Tá an aimsir anseo uafásach inniú! Cá bhfuil Samhradh??? Is fuath liom an bháisteach!

Redwolf

Bump.

Redwolf

Nuair a bhí mé óg, bhí mé i mo chónaí i mBéal Feirste agus tá go fóill. In fhírinne, tá mé óg go fóill - níl mé ach naoi mbliana déag d'aois.

Tá lá iontach deas againn anseo inniu - an grian ag scoilteadh na cloc gan scammal sa spéir, ach tá ormsa fanacht taobh istigh le stáidier a dhéanamh do mo scrúdaithe.

bump (just to make sure everyone has a chance to see this)

Mar an féinics, éirionn leibhéal a ceathair amach as an luaith!

Redwolf

Redwolf wrote:It's been pointed out to us that the conversation we're carrying on is too complicated for the people for whom this thread is intended (i.e., absolute beginners), so we need to take any further conversation here:

viewtopic.44002.html

So would everyone who has been participating in this latest, more advanced conversation (me, Benjamin, clannlir, Ossian, and now Nóinín) please click on the link above and continue this conversation there? Let's not confuse the beginners any further.

Redwolf

Go raibh maith agat, Redwolf!
Níl mé cinnte go dtuigeann mé Gaeilge maith go leor le páirt a ghlacadh i leibhéal 4 - feicim go raibh leibhéil 2 agus 3 ann, ach feictear dom go raibh na snáitheanna seo marbh?

Nóinín wrote:

Redwolf wrote:It's been pointed out to us that the conversation we're carrying on is too complicated for the people for whom this thread is intended (i.e., absolute beginners), so we need to take any further conversation here:

viewtopic.44002.html

So would everyone who has been participating in this latest, more advanced conversation (me, Benjamin, clannlir, Ossian, and now Nóinín) please click on the link above and continue this conversation there? Let's not confuse the beginners any further.

Redwolf

Go raibh maith agat, Redwolf!
Níl mé cinnte go dtuigeann mé Gaeilge maith go leor le páirt a ghlacadh i leibhéal 4 - feicim go raibh leibhéil 2 agus 3 ann, ach feictear dom go raibh na snáitheanna seo marbh?

Sílim go bhfuil do chuid Gaeilge maith go leor, a Nóinín.

Redwolf

A chairde,

Ca bhfuil tú i do chónaí? Tá mé i mo chónaí sna Sléibhte Santa Cruz, i measc na coille. Tá mo theach timpeallaithe le crainn móra: giúiseanna "Douglas," "redwoods," daracha dubha, agus labhrais.

Redwolf