Doesn't that mean "You'd like to read me"?

These just sound so strange I am struggling to believe you.

Couldn't we express these better with go?
Ba mhaith leat go lé mé an leabhar or Ba mhaith leat go léifinn an leabhar
Ba mhaith liom go ndeire sé é dó or Ba mhaith liom go ndéarfadh sé é dó

so you're saying it is no longer an infinitive phrase because the verbal noun is genitive?

Is the "avoid double genitives by only leniting the first noun" a more modern guideline or are you forgetting about it here?

So are those forms (e.g.: tar éis an fhir a phosadh dom) still acceptable / usable in modern Irish? Or is only tar éis dom an fear a phósadh still used?

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ЯГОН ТОҶИК НЕСТ ИНҶО???

In case you have tattoos worth reading



More common, perhaps, but not better.

BTW: subjunctive is wrong here.

Can you tell me where to use subjunctive other than prayers/wishes and the meaning "until"?
Go raibh airgead i do phoca i gcónaí
Fan go lé mé an litir seo

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ЯГОН ТОҶИК НЕСТ ИНҶО???

Present (*) subjunctive can be used for
- purpose following (nó) go ("so that"), sula
- uncertain time following (nó) go ("until"), sula, ach a
- real conditions following mura

*) if the main clause is in primary tenses (i.e. present, future, imperative),
otherwise (in secondary or historical tenses i.e. past, imperfect conditional) past subjunctive would be used.
Past subjunctive would also be used in irreal conditions following dá and mura.

"ba mhaith leat" is conditional. In this case a subordinate clause would be in past subjunctive and not in present subjunctive
But here "go" is simply "that", so no subjunctive at all.

Is that the same form as the conditional?

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Today often the conditional is used instead of the past subjunctive.
But the past subjunctive is the same form as the imperfect, i.e. without -f-:

go léinn
go léiteá
go léadh sé
go léimis
go léadh sibh
go léidís
go léití

There's one exception: the verb bí. Here it is pretty much the same as conditional, but again without -f-)
go mbeinn
go mbeiteá (compare with cond. go mbeifeá and with imperfect go mbíteá)
go mbeadh sé
go mbeimis
go mbeadh sibh
go mbeidís
go mbeití (cond. go mbeifí, imperfect go mbítí)

Because there is no direct object connected to the verbal-noun behaving like infinitive (there is ‘his marrying’ instead of something-like ‘to marry him’ – an fear a phosadh ‘to marry a man’, literally something like ‘the man that marrying-happens-to’(?)/‘the man to marrying’ and then an fhir a phosadh ‘of the man to marrying…’). With the possessive pronoun and verbal noun, you have just the plain Gaelic verbal noun syntax, that does not try imitate the infinitive.


To be honest, I just forgot and ignored everything about double genitives, because I was writing on my phone and it was a bit late for me. :P But judging from The GnaG, which says that ‘If the 1st noun is a verbal noun, it is then always in the genitive (see verbal noun as the attributive)’, I think I got it right by accident¹. Perhaps tar éis dom posta na mná/an fhir would be a better syntax, though?


Judging from the notes I was referencing they are still used in (some parts of?) Munster at least. But I am a beginner foreign learner, so do not take my word for anything here. It’d be best if somebody proficient in Gaelainn Mumhan commented on that.

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¹ Although, as it is not an attribute here, I am not really sure if it shouldn’t be tar éis phosadh na mná dom here… anyway, probably the whole construction is wrong in the first place. :P