All the main verb tenses in Gàidhlig, no more mystery!
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:45 pm
Recently I've been learning all the verb tenses in Gàidhlig (well, attempting to, anyway) and I thought it would be useful to make a post on this subject, since this is still causes a lot of confusion to Gàidhlig learners. This thread could summarise how to form each tense in the simplest, most easy to follow way in order to take the mystery out of them, and the more experienced here could make sure the info here is all correct. Not only would this be useful for me, but also for other Gàidhlig learners too.
I'm most likely edit and refine this thread as we go along, based upon feedback and corrections from others, to make it even simpler and easier to follow, but I'll get started for now anyway - this thread is a bit of an experiment really too.
As a starting point for learning verb tenses, I like to imagine that there are 4 basic categories of tenses in English - present, past, future and conditional - and then 4 sub-categories for each of these tenses - simple, progressive/continuous, perfect, and perfect progressive/continuous, making 16 tenses in total. I know that technically there are more tenses than this, especially if one counts modal verb forms (but I'll save modal verbs for another thread), and also some people refer to these subcategories as 'moods' or 'voices' etc, but for the purpose of this thread let's refer to all 16 as tenses. When I learn another language, I like to figure out how to create all 16 tenses as a good starting point. Now I am aware that not all tenses tr*nsl*t* exactly/at all into other languages, so I simply figure out which tenses are viable/which are not when I learn them in another language.
You could imagine these 16 tenses in a grid, with the 4 basic categories verticaly on the left, and the 4 sub-categories of each horizontally at the top. Let's make a list of all 16 tenses, using the verb 'to eat' to illustrate them: (btw, it is possible to insert images into posts here? It may be easier for me to create a picture of a grid of the tenses instead)...
Present tense
Present simple - I eat, I do eat
Present progressive/continuous - I am eating
Present perfect - I have eaten
Present perfect progressive/continuous - I have been eating
Past tense
Past simple - I ate, I did eat
Past progressive/continuous (also called the 'imperfect' tense) - I was eating
Past perfect (also known as the 'pluperfect') - I had eaten
Past perfect progressive/continuous - I had been eating
Future tense
Future simple - I will eat, I am going to eat
Future progressive/continuous - I will be eating
Future perfect - I will have eaten
Future perfect progressive/continuous - I will have been eating
Conditional tense
Conditional simple - I would eat
Conditional continuous/progressive - I would be eating
Conditional perfect - I would have eaten
Conditional perfect progressive/continuous - I would have been eating
So now the question is how to form all these in Gàidhlig, without getting your brain in a twist. Well first let's start with the present tense....
Present Tense in Gàidhlig
English has 3 ways to express the present tense, for which I will use the verb 'to eat' to illustrate - I eat (present simple), I do eat (present simple), and I am eating (present progressive/continuous). (Technically in English, both 'I have eaten' and 'I have been eating' are forms of the present tense, but for practical purposes I prefer to refer to these as past tense forms, so I'll leave them out in this section).
As I understand it, in Gàidhlig you use 'Tha' followed by mi/thu/e/i/sinn/sibh/iad followed by the particle 'a' or 'ag' and the verbal noun for all these forms. Simple! Don't be put off by the funny spelling in Gàidhlig - 'Tha' is prounounced like 'ha' as in 'ha ha' (why are you laughing?)
To form the negative statement, you simply replace 'tha' with 'chan eil'. To form the question form, you replace 'tha' with 'a bheil?', and to form the negative question form you replace 'tha' with 'nach eil'.
'Chan eil' is pronounced like 'can yell', but with a harder, harsher 'c' formed at back of the throat like in the word 'loch'. Can you yell out 'chan eil'...go on give it a try.
'A bheil?' means 'are (you, we, they)?' or 'do (you, we, they)?' or 'is (he/she/it)? or 'does (he/she/it)? (depending on what pronoun follows), and is pronounced like 'a vill' as in 'a village' or 'a villa'. Think of asking someone 'are you from a village?' or 'do you live in a village?'
'Nach eil' mean 'do (you, we, they) not?'/'are (you, we, they) not?' or 'doesn't (he/she/it)?'/'isn't (he/she/it)', and is pronounced as 'knack yell'...you are really getting the 'knack for yelling out things in Gaelic now, aren't you? Just remember to make the end of 'nach' into that harder/harsh 'c' as in 'chan eil'.
In addition to this, for the simple present tense form ('I eat' or 'I do eat'), for actions you do habitually/on a repeated basis, you can also use the future tense to express this, by using 'Bidh mi/thu/e/i/sinn/sibh/iad' followed by the particle 'a' or 'ag' and the verbal noun for all these forms. This is interchangeable with the 'Tha' form of the present tense if you are discussing habitual actions, but for the present progressive/continuous form (e.g 'I am eating', with the 'ing') you MUST use the 'Tha' form I just discussed, and not this second form with 'bidh'.
'Bidh' is pronounced like 'bee', as in honey bees that fly around your garden in summer. Who said languages were difficult, eh?
So that's the present tense dealt with. Now let's move on to the future tense....
(To be contunued....)
I'm most likely edit and refine this thread as we go along, based upon feedback and corrections from others, to make it even simpler and easier to follow, but I'll get started for now anyway - this thread is a bit of an experiment really too.
As a starting point for learning verb tenses, I like to imagine that there are 4 basic categories of tenses in English - present, past, future and conditional - and then 4 sub-categories for each of these tenses - simple, progressive/continuous, perfect, and perfect progressive/continuous, making 16 tenses in total. I know that technically there are more tenses than this, especially if one counts modal verb forms (but I'll save modal verbs for another thread), and also some people refer to these subcategories as 'moods' or 'voices' etc, but for the purpose of this thread let's refer to all 16 as tenses. When I learn another language, I like to figure out how to create all 16 tenses as a good starting point. Now I am aware that not all tenses tr*nsl*t* exactly/at all into other languages, so I simply figure out which tenses are viable/which are not when I learn them in another language.
You could imagine these 16 tenses in a grid, with the 4 basic categories verticaly on the left, and the 4 sub-categories of each horizontally at the top. Let's make a list of all 16 tenses, using the verb 'to eat' to illustrate them: (btw, it is possible to insert images into posts here? It may be easier for me to create a picture of a grid of the tenses instead)...
Present tense
Present simple - I eat, I do eat
Present progressive/continuous - I am eating
Present perfect - I have eaten
Present perfect progressive/continuous - I have been eating
Past tense
Past simple - I ate, I did eat
Past progressive/continuous (also called the 'imperfect' tense) - I was eating
Past perfect (also known as the 'pluperfect') - I had eaten
Past perfect progressive/continuous - I had been eating
Future tense
Future simple - I will eat, I am going to eat
Future progressive/continuous - I will be eating
Future perfect - I will have eaten
Future perfect progressive/continuous - I will have been eating
Conditional tense
Conditional simple - I would eat
Conditional continuous/progressive - I would be eating
Conditional perfect - I would have eaten
Conditional perfect progressive/continuous - I would have been eating
So now the question is how to form all these in Gàidhlig, without getting your brain in a twist. Well first let's start with the present tense....
Present Tense in Gàidhlig
English has 3 ways to express the present tense, for which I will use the verb 'to eat' to illustrate - I eat (present simple), I do eat (present simple), and I am eating (present progressive/continuous). (Technically in English, both 'I have eaten' and 'I have been eating' are forms of the present tense, but for practical purposes I prefer to refer to these as past tense forms, so I'll leave them out in this section).
As I understand it, in Gàidhlig you use 'Tha' followed by mi/thu/e/i/sinn/sibh/iad followed by the particle 'a' or 'ag' and the verbal noun for all these forms. Simple! Don't be put off by the funny spelling in Gàidhlig - 'Tha' is prounounced like 'ha' as in 'ha ha' (why are you laughing?)
To form the negative statement, you simply replace 'tha' with 'chan eil'. To form the question form, you replace 'tha' with 'a bheil?', and to form the negative question form you replace 'tha' with 'nach eil'.
'Chan eil' is pronounced like 'can yell', but with a harder, harsher 'c' formed at back of the throat like in the word 'loch'. Can you yell out 'chan eil'...go on give it a try.
'A bheil?' means 'are (you, we, they)?' or 'do (you, we, they)?' or 'is (he/she/it)? or 'does (he/she/it)? (depending on what pronoun follows), and is pronounced like 'a vill' as in 'a village' or 'a villa'. Think of asking someone 'are you from a village?' or 'do you live in a village?'
'Nach eil' mean 'do (you, we, they) not?'/'are (you, we, they) not?' or 'doesn't (he/she/it)?'/'isn't (he/she/it)', and is pronounced as 'knack yell'...you are really getting the 'knack for yelling out things in Gaelic now, aren't you? Just remember to make the end of 'nach' into that harder/harsh 'c' as in 'chan eil'.
In addition to this, for the simple present tense form ('I eat' or 'I do eat'), for actions you do habitually/on a repeated basis, you can also use the future tense to express this, by using 'Bidh mi/thu/e/i/sinn/sibh/iad' followed by the particle 'a' or 'ag' and the verbal noun for all these forms. This is interchangeable with the 'Tha' form of the present tense if you are discussing habitual actions, but for the present progressive/continuous form (e.g 'I am eating', with the 'ing') you MUST use the 'Tha' form I just discussed, and not this second form with 'bidh'.
'Bidh' is pronounced like 'bee', as in honey bees that fly around your garden in summer. Who said languages were difficult, eh?
So that's the present tense dealt with. Now let's move on to the future tense....
(To be contunued....)