math... gu math? *_* and grammatical terms

[jasonleitch]

Is there another way to say 'rather' when trying to affect "well" I know them both separately as math, and gu math, so is it math gu math? i.e. I thought it went rather well, don't you?

bha mi a' smaointinn gun robh e a' dol math gu math, nach robh thu?

which is probably more like 'I thought it was going rather well, didn't you?' But I kind of started to doubt myself when tr*nsl*t*ng 'went' into the proper context, also kind of hazy on where the word "do" fits into that example lol if at all but I figure I know enough at this point to benefit from the mistakes.

Second question:

The understanding of certain grammatical terminology in English without clear example slows down my understand of the Gàidhlig sometimes. Usually I squint my eyes for a second and work out what it's trying to tell me but in some cases the examples just aren't clear enough. I'm talking about my encounter with the 'imperative' form of verbs with ----> 'second person plural imperative' <----- that guy and his friends ambiguously lurking around my verbal endings and making the place look bad. I get that it's a commanding form, do this/do that, so does second person plural just mean... yous? as in y'all just more than one person? Thigibh a-staigh agus suidhibh sìos vs thig a-staigh agus suidh sìos I can't work out who the former is talking to or if it's just 'formal'.

buail I get, bualadh I get, bualibh not so much and then we have buaileamaid

basically how would I use the imperative over the spectrum of person perspective, 1st 2nd 3rd

help me crack this coconut :]

[GunChleoc]

'second person plural imperative = you for more than one person, or the polite/distance form. Any time you would use "sibh" instead of "thu".

It went rather well - this expression is some form od understatement, isn't it? In that case, I would say "Cha deach seo gu dona" or "Cha robh seo dona"

If you mean it went really well - Chaidh/bha seo fìor mhath.

[faoileag]

'gu math' does indeed mean 'quite' or 'pretty', even 'very' in an understated sort of way, before an adjective like tired, good, happy etc.

Tha mi gu math sgìth. - I'm pretty tired.

Instead of saying 'gu math math' for pretty good/well, you could say 'math gu leòr' = not bad.

Bha sin math gu leòr. That was pretty good.
Rinn thu sin math gu leòr. You did that pretty well.

[jasonleitch]

lol math gu lèor I like that, good enough translates to not bad xD

So,

nach bi thu thig a-staigh?
nach bi sibh thigibh a-staigh? <--- formal OR talking to a group

at least that's my understanding at this time

also I'm plain unfamiliar with the "tr*nsl*t**n" on seo gu dona/seo dona or seo fìor mhath, I am familiar with the words themselves though just not the pairing of them here

[Seonaidh]

A Jhasoin - chan eil mi gad thuigsinn!

nach bi thu thig a-staigh?
nach bi sibh thigibh a-staigh?

Is it supposed to mean, e.g., "Won't you come in?" Or "Won't you be coming in?" In English, I prefer the first construction: the second sounds a bit weird. If so, the usual Gaelic would be more like "Nach tig thu (or sibh) a-steach?" If you wanted to be preiphrastic, I suppose you could put "Nach bi sibh (or thu) a' tighinn a-steach?"

Note (that'll be £1 please...) that "a-staigh" is usually used for a position, while "a-steach" is usually used for a change of position (a bit like "shuas" and "suas")

[poor_mouse]

And as for imperative ("come in!"), it'll be "thig a-steach!" (singular informal) no "thigibh a-steach!" (plural or formal).
Of course, "Nach tig thu/sibh a-steach?" is the more polite form of invitation.

(If I'm not mistaken).

[jasonleitch]

Moran taing, also, how do I pronounce Jhasion, the Jh is in there and it's throwing me off, been studying for a few months and I still don't know my own name yet

[EowynAnduin]

Do not worry Jason. My name has a letter that is not used. How do you think I am coping ?

The "K" sound, if I am learning correctly, is represented by " kʲ " IPA which is aphabetically a "c" with a particular sound when found at the beginning of the word followed by a slender vowel. Thus would my name be written as "Cim" on it's own and when in context "Chim"? which is pronounced entirely differently.

Kim

[GunChleoc]

The J in Jason is similar to Gaelic slender d. So I guess Jh would be pronounced as slender dh, as in dhi.

Foreing language names are also often just left as they are, so you can say "Jason" instead of "a Jhason".

[akerbeltz]

If Jason had been borrowed into Gaelic, it would probably be Seusan /ʃeːsan/ or Seasan /ʃesan/. I know of a Canadian chap who uses Seasan in the Gaelic.

[jasonleitch]

Seusan sounds nice and flows well, so would that be A Sheusain? (Haven't done names yet just curious) So any ideas on the Leitch pronunciation/spelling? I know it's derived from MacBeatha > MacBeth > doctors > leechers > leitch

[akerbeltz]

The Gaelic equivalant of Leitch/Leech is Mac an Lighiche.

[jasonleitch]

Thank you, that's actually exciting to find out, cheers!

[poor_mouse]

If Jason had been borrowed into Gaelic, it would probably be Seusan /ʃeːsan/ or Seasan /ʃesan/. I know of a Canadian chap who uses Seasan in the Gaelic.

Tha e coltach gur e riaghailt a tha ann airson "J" 's "G" (caol): James >> Seumas, Japan >> an t-Seapan, George >> Seòras agus msaa...

[jasonleitch]

while this is still going would I be right in surmising that the -(a)ibh verbal endings for the imperative carries a connotation of suggestion AND command. I was understanding it at either polite/plural, I studied Japanese many years ago I it might have been what's confusing me, I.e. not just polite for the sake of polite. Is the imperative without -(a)ibh expressing a COMMAND!! no matter where it is, am I forcing something on someone? where with -(a)ibh i'm asking, but telling at the same time? I doubt it's as black and white as that, how much does it depend on the tone of your voice?

In English the difference between, "think again", and "think again" could only reaaallly be determined by the tone of my voice or context, smaoinich a-rithist, smaoinichibh a-rithist, I have a fairly binary view of these right now