ar fád, go leir and liomsa

Bríd Mhór · **Joined:** Sun 28 Aug 2011 8:29 pm **Posts:** 3001

I don't remember the word for petticoat in Conamara.
But it would be understandable that when said to a woman "cóta" meant "petticoat" as women in those days didn't wear any other coat. They wore big shawls instead.
A man wore an overcoat - cóta mór, or seaicéad (jacket).
Nowadays women wear both kinds of coats, so the meaning is more ambiguous.

I've heard "casóg" used here too, but only in the context of what a priest wears.

NiallBeag · **Joined:** Wed 19 Dec 2012 3:58 pm **Posts:** 488

Muimhneach wrote:

I believe casóg is a shorter version - a jacket, patrickj.

Well I can only speak as an English speaker, of course, but I've never seen a cassock that's shorter than a coat!!!

Breandán · **Posted:** Sun 08 Dec 2013 10:59 pm

NiallBeag wrote:

Jay Bee wrote:

Look at the differences between 'mórán' and 'níos fearr' in written usage:

The question was about go mór níos fearr vs mórán níos fearr.

As I understand it, the difference between these two is no more than the difference between "much better" and "a lot better" in English (i.e. practically none). I may be wrong though! (I speak practically no Irish.)

Mórán tends to be used only in the negative and in questions (see JayBee's examples on page 2 of this thread).

For the affirmative of quantity, I'd suggest a lán:

Tá a lán daoine ann. "There are lots of people there." vs
Níl mórán daoine ann. "There aren't many people there."

For the adverbial emphasis, I would suggest using i bhfad instead:

Tuigim i bhfad níos fearr anois. "I understand much better now."
Tuigim i bhfad níos fearr anois é. "I understand it much better now."

Luke Ó Scolaidhe · **Joined:** Tue 03 Dec 2013 1:08 pm **Posts:** 50

Luke Ó Scolaidhe wrote:

Mick wrote:

Luke Ó Scolaidhe wrote:

Ok... questions

Why Siadsan?

Tá siad ag roinnt = They are sharing
Tá siadsan ag roinnt = THEY are sharing

Your version is correct too, I just put more emphasis on the word "they."

Luke Ó Scolaidhe wrote:

Why 'Bí i do chailín maith anois'? Is this like Tá sí ina suí? She is sitting down, in otherwords she is immersed in HER action so 'i do chailín maith' is like 'be in your good girl mode'

I think your "good girl mode" is a great way to explain it.

Is cailín maith í = She is a good girl
Tá sí ina cailín maith = She is being a good girl/ She has become a good girl / She is now in good girl mode
Tá sí cailín maith / Bí cailín maith = Wrong verb

This is commonly referred to as a TSF error (Tá sé fear).

Is fear é = He is a man
Tá sé ina fhear = He has become a man, he is speaking as man, he is in man-mode
Tá sé fear = Wrong verb, the so-called TSF error

Luke Ó Scolaidhe wrote:

Why gur instead of go bhfuil?

Go bhfuil has no place here. You have used two different verbs: "go bhfuil" and "is" where only the verb "is" is relevant.

Tá a fhios agam. Is leatsa é. = I know. It's yours (two separate statements)
Tá a fhios agam gur leatsa é = I know that it is yours (one statement)

Is é = it is
Gur = that it is (I know that it is . . . / I heard that is it is . . . / I think that it is . . . etc.

"Gur" is another form of "is", used for these kind of sentences. I think these called relative clauses, or dependent clauses or something like that (I'm not good on grammar terminology).

(Edited to add in clearer examples)

Mar sin, 'Ceapaim go bfhuil tá sé deanach' agus 'Ceapaim gur ag éirí déanach anois'.

An bfhuil sé sin ceart?

I've been rereading over all of these and a lot is stuff I know/knew but commonly forget :oops:

But I have a quick question. Is there any situation where you say 'Tá sé anything?' I mean I know I can say Tá mé ceart go leor and I don't have to say 'is duine ceart go leor mé. Although that would still be right. So is it a situation where you cant say 'Tá sé noun' and you say is noun mé instead?

I don't know if I am making myself clear here or not but for example:

Is fear mé = I am a man

Tá mé fear = wrong because fear is a noun

Tá mé ag mothiú tinn = I am feeling sick

Is ag mothiú tinn mé = wrong because ag mothiú is an adjective and you can't say 'is adjective anything'

This is the way I have reasoned it out in my head but don't know if I am jumping the gun with my reasoning?

Mick · **Joined:** Fri 18 Nov 2011 2:27 pm **Posts:** 622

The noun vs. adjective rule works as long as you remember phrases like "is maith liom". A lot of people would say that maith is an adjective in that phrase, but I would argue that it's being used as a noun, a noun that means "something good" or "a good thing" if you translate it into English.

Is maith liom tae = Tea is good with me (maith as an adjective)
Is maith liom tae = Tea is something good with me (maith as a noun)

NiallBeag · **Joined:** Wed 19 Dec 2012 3:58 pm **Posts:** 488

"Noun" vs "everything else" is a general rule of thumb, and it's a good start to build on, but it gets more complicated as you build more complex constructions.

Tá is a temporary or transitory state.
Tá mé ag rith... I'm running at the moment, but I will stop running at some point.
Tá mé sona... I'm happy at the moment, but shoot my pet puppy, and I'll cry

Is is a lasting, permanent condition.
Is fear mé... the notion that you can change gender is fairly modern... :-)
Is Albannach mé... I am a Scotsman, always have been, always will be.

EDIT: as per jay bee below, this last bit is not true:
Is fear sona mé... As I understand it (I may well be wrong!) if you want to describe your permanent characteristics with an adjective, you've got to pair them with a noun, giving "I am a happy man." Can anyone confirm this?

Saoirse · **Posted:** Tue 10 Dec 2013 8:07 pm

NiallBeag wrote:

Tá mé sona... I'm happy at the moment, but shoot my pet puppy, and I'll cry

NiallBeag wrote:

Is fear mé... the notion that you can change gender is fairly modern... :-)

Jay Bee · **Joined:** Tue 15 Nov 2011 7:35 am **Posts:** 1098

If a situation is deemed to be true, as when out on the bog, and if one were to comment on the softness of the ground as being quite a constant: 'is bog é'...

Jay Bee · **Joined:** Tue 15 Nov 2011 7:35 am **Posts:** 1098

I mean, is this not the main differentiator -between what is deemed or perceived to be malleable in state and what is deemed to be non-malleable?

Compare Tá sé ina fhear anois [consequence of change] vs. is fear é [final 'permanent' state without respect to time]

or Bhí na beithigh sa pháirc [something seen earlier, but possibly changed] vs. B'iad na haimhithe a raibh leis [what he was definitely known to have possessed]

patrickjwalsh · **Joined:** Wed 24 Jul 2013 2:31 am **Posts:** 329

I think there is more to it.

The copula was formerly more widely used.

Although An Bíobla Naofa was translated in 1980, they undoubtedly did try to use some poetic syntax in that, to make a Biblical register of the language, and in the Song of Solomon 1:16 (which I quoted on this site a while ago, but changing the language to suit what I'm learning):

Quote:

Nach álainn tú, a ghrá;
is aoibhinn go deimhin.
I lár dhuilliúr ár leapa.

This is the exact quote from ABN. I lár dhuilliúr ár leapa. Not tá ár leapa i lár an duilliúir, as you might have expected. So you can have the copula to express location, but it is probably a question of register and style.

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