Hálo a chairde,

My McGonagle explains how to form the imperative for the 2nd person singular and plural (ex. ól, ólaigí), but what about 1st person plural, as in "Let's drink."

In French, for example, there are 3 forms of the imperative. Take the verb "boire" (to drink):

bois ! - drink! (singular informal you)
buvez ! - drink! (singular formal or plural you)
buvons ! - let's drink! (we)

How do we form this in Irish?

Óladh sé! = Let him drink! ["That he drink!"]
Ólaimis! = Let us drink! ["That we drink!"]
Ólaidís! = Let them drink! ["That they drink!"]

But you can also use compound forms with the verb "to be", which is so often used in Irish expressions.
For example, there's a song which has a repeated line which goes:
Bímis ag ól!
Let us drink! ["Let us be at drinking!" / "That we be at drinking!"]

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Hmm. Caoimhín - I'm not sure ólaimis exists anywhere.

The Munster forms are:

óladh sé
ólaimís - with a long ending
ólaidís

So does ólaimis exist, and if so where? I don't know - maybe in Ulster?

The Connacht forms are:

óladh sé
óladh muid
óladh siad

(see p202 of Learning Irish - where he says that the future can be used as quasi-imperative, as in ólfaidh muid).

I don't know what the Ulster forms are.

If there is the imperative (direct command to the listener), the jussive (what one feels should be done) and the hortive (enjoining someone to act) then pragmatically, you might say that:

glan & glanaigí are commands

glanainn, glaná, glanadh sé/sí, glanadh sibh, glanaidís and glanaí are jussives

glanaimís is the hortive

That's not to say they are especially all used, but it's an area not covered enough in books and statements like 'leave us alone' would have to be handled more periphrastically (maybe with lig + do).

To my mind people's ignorance of the forms shows that the languages was never meant in the popular mind for speaking as illocutionary acts are key to practical usage

PS, I've read the long ending is only used when and where the synthetic form is (aimís)

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

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The way I learned it, there is a fada over the final "i" in ólaidís but not in ólaimis, just like the (related, actually) endings in the past habitual. I wasn't sure I was remembering it correctly, so before answering I checked Briathra na Gaeilge, and that's what they have. I checked several other works, too, and they all agree with Briathra. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you meant, though.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

As far as I know, in Donegal you can say:

ólasmaid!
or use the future: ólfaidh muid!
(other forms exist as well: ólaimis; ólamais...)

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Caoimhín, that book compiled by Hughes if I recall correctly, may give ólaimis as the form - Hughes may have thought the CO spelling was "close enough" to represent the Munster form ólaimís.

The Munster is not ólaimis - even if it is written in that book.

All of the CO ending -mis and -mid are not fully representative of Munster. Táimid is another example. The North has tá muid, the South has táimíd - nowhere - no Gaeltacht village - has táimid. You could reason that it is a compromise and has the advantage of not being either tá muid or táimíd, so no one feels disadvantaged. You could also argue that historical parts of the Gaeltacht - like Co. Clare when that as Irish-speaking had, or may in some areas have had, -mid and -mis.

The Munster forms are definitely táimíd, beimíd, beimís etc in the various tenses. There is no such word as táimid, or ólaimid, or ólaimis or d'ólfaimis etc in Munster Irish (but Lúghaidh has shown some of these forms could be used in Ulster).

I'm not saying this has to matter - clearly most people don't make a big deal out of it.

Leabhar Mór Bhriathra na Gaeilge by A. J. Hughes gives ólaimíst which is correct for the Corca Dhuibhne form of Munster Irish.

Leabhar Mór Bhriathra na Gaeilge by A. J. Hughes gives táimíd, beimíd, do bheimíst, etc. which are, of course, the correct Munster forms in Corca Dhuibhne.

I have a question about this - as far as I can see, it would be more natural to say - bí ag ól, after which logically you would get - bímís ag ól and bídh ag ól. But there's this children's rhyme in Rabhlaí, Rabhlaí -
Cnag ar an Doras (it's in two parts and as a complete beginner when I first saw it, I just couldn't understand why, but I've since realised that the second part is in the Corca Dhuibhne dialect as recited by Bab herself) So have a look and a listen to this -

Cnag ar an doras
Is féach isteach;
Bain díot do hata
Is siúil isteach;
Suigh ar an stól
Is bí ag ól;
Is conas tá tú ar maidin,

(and then there's this)

Cnag ar an ndoras,
Is féach isteach;
Ardaigh an laiste
Agus buail isteach;
Suigh ar an stól
Is ól do dheoch;
Is conas taoi féin ar maidin?

- so is that how they still say - have a drink - nowadays?

By the way when you say
Óladh sé
Ólaimís
Ólaidís
for me that would be the equivalent of the subjunctive in French
que tu boives
que nous buvions
que vous buviez

In Munster at any rate, yes. Ól rather than Bí ag ól.


Well for Ól it can be difficult to tell the habitual past and the imperative forms without context.
As an imperative:
Óladh sé = Let him drink.
Ólaimís = Let us drink = Let's drink.
Ólaidís = Let them drink.

I know very little about French, so I can't comment on whether they are equivalent.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal