Relative pronouns

[JoP]

How do you distinguish between

"It is they who hit me"

and

"It is they whom I hit"

Because there are no accusative pronouns and the word order is always verb-subject or verb-object they both seem to me to be

'S e iadson a bhuail mi

Also how would you say

"The house where I was born"

Do you have to say "The house in which I was born"

and is that something like

An taigh anns an rugadh mi (? d'rugadh mi)

[GunChleoc]

'S e iadsan a bhuail mi - It is them I hit. You can switch that around to 'S e mise a bhuail iad - It is me they hit.

The neutral constructions would be:

Bhuail iad mi - they hit me
Bhuail mi iad - I hit them

The house where I was born - An taigh far a rugadh me. Far a takes the relative form, which only exists in the future. In all other tenses, you just use the independent form instead.

[neoni]

this is one of the ambiguities in gaelic

's iad a bhuail mi
means "i hit them (it's them i hit)" and "they hit me (it's they that hit me)"
and in the same sense
's mise a bhuail iad
can mean "they hit me (it's me that they hit)" and "i hit them (it's me that hit them)"

when you first learn this it seems like it would cause problems, but i've never run into any confusion with it at all.

i would say "an taigh san (anns an) do rugadh mi" for "the house in which i was born", and i think "far an do rugadh" for things like this is an anglicism, but i'm not sure. i don't use it though.

The house where I was born - An taigh far a rugadh me. Far a takes the relative form, which only exists in the future. In all other tenses, you just use the independent form instead.

far takes the interrogative form (in all tenses), not the relative. it works the same as "air a bheil" "anns an robh" "aig nach bi" etc

[faoileag]

'Far' is unlike the other conjunctions/relative pronouns, which DO tale the relative/independent, because it runs parallel to 'Càite`. That makes it easier to remember.

Càit am bi thu a-maireach? Bidh mi far am bi mi an-còmhnaidh - aig m' obair!

Cuin a bhios tu ann? Bidh mi ann nuair a bhios am bus ann!

[GunChleoc]

Tapadh leibh!

that would make it far an do rugadh then (if you're using far that is)

[neoni]

yup, but i think far is a bit of an anglicism there and that "an taigh san (anns an) do rugadh mi" is better, but if anybody can confirm/deny i'd be very pleased.

[GunChleoc]

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