dia daoibh.

Bhí mé ag léamh alt ar Nós http://nos.ie/gniomhaiochas/comhshaol/scribhneoireacht-aimsithe-ar-mhars/ agus chonaic mé é seo.

"Cad ar a bhfuil muid ag breathnú anseo?" Could you say "Cad a bhfuil muid ag breathnú air anseo? "

Is it an indirect clause as it has a preposition at the end? It would be "atá" in a sentence like "Cad atá muid ag déanamh anseo?"

GRMA

It should be Cad air a bhfuil muid ... (though Cad ar a ... isn't strictly wrong, just unusual)

Yes, it is an indirect relative clause.

Usually cad air isn't seperated.
But it is possible. So, Cad a bhfuil muid ag breathnú air anseo? is correct.

I think, in Ulster Cad é (goidé) a bhfuil muid ag amharc air anseo? is normal.


Yes, it is a direct relative.
(But it would be Cad atá muid a dhéanamh anseo?, ag -> a because the object [cad] of déanamh is fronted)

Could you explain why air would be preferred (apart from the fact that it's the actual pronunciation of ar in several (all?) dialects)? I've always been under the impression that when you use the preposition before the clause, you leave it uninflected, and only inflect it if it's not fronted. I would've been inclined to say Céard ar a bhfuil tú ag breathnú, though looking through my notes I see my teacher used both Céard ar a[i] and [i]Céard air a. often with the "i" marked out and then rewritten and marked out again, so I just assumed that was speech influencing writing.

Let's take another preposition:

Cad ar a bhfuil...?
would correspond to "Cé lena raibh tú ag caint?"

and
Cad air a bhfuil...?
would correspond to "Cé leis a raibh tú ag caint?"

and
Cad a bhfuil muid ag breathnú air anseo?
would correspond to "Cé a raibh tú ag caint leis?"

The first one "cad ar" looks weird to me, as "Cé lena raibh" does too.

By the way "Cad air a bhfuil muid ag breathnú anseo" also looks weird because of the mix of dialects : "cad" is Munster, "bhfuil muid" is Connachta or Ulster, "breathnú" is Connachta, anseo is Connachta or Ulster...
Munster would have "Cad air a bhfuilimíd a' féachaint anso?"
Connachta would have "Céard air a bhfuil muid a' breathnú anseo?"
Ulster would have "Goidé air a bhfuil muid ag amhanc anseo?" (or "Goidé a bhfuid muid ag amhanc air?")

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