In the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

, verb forms are constructed either "synthetically" or "analytically":

Synthetic Synthetic may refer to: Science * Synthetic biology * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic elements, chemical elements that are not naturally found on Earth and therefore have to be created in ...

forms express the information about

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

and

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in the ending: e.g., "I praise", where the ending - stands for "first person singular present". In this case, a pronoun is not allowed: * is ungrammatical. is allowed but using the - ending is more common. Analytic forms are those whose endings contain no information about person and number, and a pronoun is necessary: e.g., "you (pl.) praise", where the ending - expresses only the present tense, and the pronoun "you" (pl.) must accompany it in order to express "second person plural". In addition to the three persons, Irish also has an impersonal form (also called the "autonomous" form), which is used in forming the

passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of ...

and can conveniently be translated with "one" or "someone" as the subject. Shown below are the distribution of synthetic and analytic forms in the standard language; in the dialects, other patterns may be found, although some of the most important distinctions made in certain dialects are pointed out in this article. See

Irish orthography Irish orthography is the set of conventions used to write Irish. A spelling reform in the mid-20th century led to , the modern standard written form used by the Government of Ireland, which regulates both spelling and grammar. The reform re ...

for the pronunciation of verb endings.

Regular verbs

There are two conjugation classes of regular verbs, as illustrated below. Forms in ''

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'' are not part of the standard language. The suffixes shown change to agree with the word ending in a velarised ("broad") consonant or palatalised ("slender") consonant. In the examples below, verbs ending with "broad" consonants are shown above those ending with "slender" consonants. In the imperfect, preterite, and conditional, a consonant-initial stem undergoes lenition (and dialectally is preceded by ), while a vowel-initial stem is prefixed by . A stem beginning with + a vowel takes both, e.g. "wait", "he waited". The preterite impersonal, e.g. "one waited", neither undergoes lenition nor receives . The -- in future and conditional stems is pronounced ; except in the conditional 2nd person singular and the impersonal, where it remains .

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

Second stem verbs take the same base suffixes as first conjugation verbs, but add the infix in -- (most forms), or -- (in the future and conditional). Roots ending in a slender consonant undergo syncope before the addition of --.

Irregular verbs

There are eleven

irregular verbs A regular verb is any verb whose Verb conjugation, conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. Th ...

in Standard Irish; individual dialects have a few more. Most of them are characterized by

suppletion In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or ev ...

, that is, different roots are used to form different tenses. Analytic forms are indicated by the symbol +. The preterites of many irregular verbs take the nonpreterite forms of preverbal particles, i.e. (interrogative particle) and (negative particle), instead of (pret. interrogative particle) and (pret. negative particle). Some verbs have different independent and dependent forms in certain tenses; the independent forms are used when no particle precedes the verb, and also after "if" (open conditional) and the direct relative particle , while the dependent forms are used after all other particles.

"to say"

The - in this verb's independent forms is not lenited, and the dependent forms are slightly archaic.

"to bear"

"to be"

If a noun phrase is in the predicate, then forms of the particle ''is'' are used rather than anything below.

/ "to hear"

is used in southern and south-central Irish (Munster, Connemara, Aran Islands etc.), whereas is used in northern and north-central varieties (Mayo, Ulster).

"to do, to make"

"to find, to get"

The - in forms of this verb is eclipsed rather than lenited after .

"to see"

"to eat"

"to give, to bring, (to be named)"

The meaning "to be named" is often found in writings and can therefore be considered as strange for learners. When meaning "to be named" the verbform is usually followed by the preposition "ar", which is also inflected due to the person it is connected with. e.g.: * "Seán, as he was (usually) called, was very happy." * "Seán is giving me the apple."

"to come"

"to go"

Preverbal particles

Irish uses a number of preverbal

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...

s to modify the meaning of a sentence. In a positive statement, no particle is used and the verb comes first (except in Munster Irish where is placed before verbs in the past, habitual past and conditional, leniting the verb that follows). This is still seen in the Standard Language in said tenses, prefixed to verbs beginning with vowels, e.g. (Munster Irish: ) "I drank": * "Seán understands Irish." * "Seán understood Irish." * "Seán would understand Irish."

Negative particles

To negate a statement, the particle is used, which causes lenition; a before a vowel or lenited is omitted: * "Seán doesn't understand Irish." * "Seán wouldn't understand Irish." * "Séamas would not drink the milk." (cf. "Séamas would drink the milk.") * "Úna would not wait for me." (cf. "Úna would wait for me.") In the preterite, the particle is used . There is lenition but no . * "Seán didn't understand Irish." * "Séamas didn't drink the milk." (cf. "Séamas drank the milk.") * "Úna didn't wait for me." (cf. "Úna waited for me.") (In Ulster, the negative particles , pret. are also used)

Interrogative particles

To pose a simple yes/no question, the particle is used, which causes eclipsis (no eclipsis of vowels, because already ends with ). In the preterite (+ lenition) is used. The prefix is omitted: * "Does Seán understand Irish?" * "Would Seán understand Irish?" * "Does Séamas drink milk?" * "Would Úna wait for me?" * "Did Seán understand Irish?" * "Did Séamas drink the milk?" * "Did Úna wait for me?" These particles are also used to introduce an indirect question: * "I don't know if Seán understands Irish." * "I wonder if Séamas drank the milk."

Negative interrogative particles

To pose a negative yes/no question, the particle is used, which causes eclipsis (in preterite: + lenition): * "Doesn't Seán understand Irish?" * "Wouldn't Seán understand Irish?" * "Wouldn't Séamas drink the milk?" * "Wouldn't Úna wait for me?" * "Didn't Seán understand Irish?" * "Didn't Séamas drink the milk?" * "Didn't Úna wait for me?" (In Munster is used instead of .)

Wh-interrogative particles

To pose a wh-question, one of the interrogative particles , /, , , etc. is used. * "Where will you put the letter?" * "What will the neighbors think?" * "When will you sell your house?" * "Who will stand next to me?" * "How will you clean the dress?"

Verbal nouns

Formation

Irish has no

infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all ...

and uses instead the

verbal noun Historically, grammarians have described a verbal noun or gerundial noun as a verb form that functions as a noun. An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The ''sacking'' of the city was an epochal event" (wherein ...

. The verbal noun can be formed using different strategies (mostly suffixes). The most common of these are: *Suffix , e.g., "soften": *Suffix , e.g., "leave": *Suffix , e.g., "lift": *Suffix , e.g., "spend": *Suffix , e.g., "defend": *Suffix , e.g., "follow": *Slender consonant is made broad, e.g., "prevent": *Suffix , e.g., "buy": *No change, e.g., "drink": *Suffix , e.g., "awake": *Suffix , e.g., "dance":

Usage

The verbal noun is used as the infinitive would be used in English. : "He asked me to go." : "I would rather stay." A progressive can be expressed with the preposition and is equivalent to the English present participle. : "Seán is working." : "Máire was speaking." A perfect tense can be formed with either of the compound prepositions or and the verbal noun. : "She has (just) mowed the grass." (cf.

Hiberno-English Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...

"She is after cutting the grass.") : "He had (just) washed the cups." (cf. Hiberno-English "He was after washing the cups.")

The subjunctive

The

subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as the conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unrealit ...

covers the idea of wishing something and so appears in some famous Irish proverbs and blessings. It is considered an old-fashioned tense for daily speech (except in set phrases) but still appears often in print. E.g., * "May you be well." (lit: May you go well.) * "May God give you sense." * "May the Devil make thunder of your soul in Hell." It is important to note that when the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish, and another tense might be used instead: * "If I were (past subjunctive) you, I would study for the exam tomorrow." * "It is important that he choose (present sub.) the right way." * "When you're (present ind.) older, you'll understand." * "I wish (that) you were (past sub.) here." While the relative pronoun that can be omitted in English, the corresponding is mandatory in Irish.