Irish Translation Forum

Can you explain it to me? Is it as simple as
verbal noun + dom = when I was...? and
i mo + verbal noun + dom = when I was...?

and if so, why does this work?

ok....im shuí dom age baile bhíos ag leamh...in my sitting downess at home i was reading a book....it seems silly in english as it doesn't exist in the same way

im' verbal noun and dom...ya that's it...fair play..you got it.

Why does it work? couldn't tell ya in the slightest

You could hurt your head trying to figure this out logically... the best way I think is to have a look at a few examples of 'wrong' and 'right'. I got these from a book called 'Cruinnscríobh na Gaeilge' by Ciarán Mac Murchaidh and I think if you learn the 'bealach ceart' of these following examples off, you'll be able to apply the 'rule' all over the place!

Light type WRONG............................Heavy Type RIGHT

Mícheart ..................................Ceart
ag bualadh mé................................do mo bhualadh
ag bualadh tú..................................do do bhualadh
ag oscailt /bualadh é.........................á oscailt / á bhualadh
ag feiceáil / ionsaí í .........................á feiceáil / á hionsaí
ag ionsaí muid................................dár n-ionsaí
ag bualadh muid..............................dár mbualadh
ag gortú sibh..................................do bhur ngortú
ag pacáil iad..................................á bpacáil

begod I think I'd forget how to talk it altogether if I was to go and try figuring some of this out... lol...

Thanks so much - analyzing like this really helps me remember it.

mé, tú, sé, srl take one form and é, í srl take the other...

the verbal noun + dom (duit, dó etc.) is used with prepositions

ag teacht dom = when I was coming
ar imeacht dó = when he had gone
le linn dúinn a bheith ag fanacht leo = while we are/were waiting for them

can also be used with adverbial phrases:

ar an drochuair dó = at an evil hour for him
ar mo leaba aréir dom = when I was in bed last night

I hope I'm not causing more confusion here, but one of my teachers once told me that do is used in the passive voice and ag is used in the active voice. He referred me to this...

http://books.google.com/books?id=kiFdPL ... 22&f=false

...from which I stole these examples...

Active

Bhí Seosamh ag bualadh Thomáis.
Joseph was hitting Thomas.

Bhíothas ag bualadh Thomáis.
"Somebody" was hitting Thomas.
(In English, we would use the passive: "Thomas was being hit", but in Irish it's active.)

Bhíothas ag bualadh Thomáis le Seosamh.
I can't think of a sensible way to translate this literally.
(In English, we would use the passive: "Thomas was being hit by Joseph", but in Irish it's active.)

Passive

Bhí Thomás á bhualadh ag Seosamh.
Thomas was being hit by Joseph.

Bhíothas á bhualadh ag Seosamh.
Someone was being hit by Joseph.

Bhíos do mo bhualadh ag Seosamh.
I was being hit by Joseph.

Bhíothas do mo bhualadh ag Seosamh.
There was hitting of me by Joseph.

Note that the last two examples have a pronoun as a subject.

I assume you could also have the following:

Bhí Thomás á bhualadh.
Thomas was being hit.

Bhíos do mo bhualadh.
I was being hit.

In those last two examples, there's not an ag in sight, because there's no mention of who is doing the hitting.

This seems to be consistent with http://www.nualeargais.ie/gnag/zeitform.htm, although it's not presented in quite the same way.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh a chairde, tá sé seo ar fheabhas

I hope I'm not causing more confusion here, but one of my teachers once told me that do is used in the passive voice and ag is used in the active voice. He referred me to this...

I don't agree with that explanation because you could easily find sentences where it's not true.

Bhí mé do do thabhairt chun an stáisiúin. = I was taking you to the station. No passive.
Bhí mé do mo ní féin. = I was washing (myself). No passive.
Bhí mé ag bualadh Thomáis = I was hitting Thomas.
Bhí mé (d)á bhualadh = I was hitting him (same sentence as above except I use a pronoun instead of the name...)

Pwyll2 wrote:

Bhí mé ag bualadh Thomáis = I was hitting Thomas.

I would find
Bhí Tomás á bhualadh agam
more natural for this one!

As far as I know (from reading "Cuir Gaeilge air" by Antain Mac Lochlainn, a professional translator) the impersonal form of the verb can not be used with an agent. The form itself indicates that the agent is unknown (or simply omitted for other reasons). Thus, bhíothas do mo/á bhualadh ag Seosamh gives, although the sentence is not incorrect in itself, another meaning than might have been intended. It does not mean 'I/Someone was being beaten by Joseph', but 'I/Someone was being beaten at Joseph's', but not necessarily by Joseph himself.