Beginner asks about "tu"

[Ilovelatinandgaelic]

Hallo, ciamar a tha a h-uile duine?

My question is about the pronoun "tu." So far in my course (self-taught, "Everyday Gaelic" - Macneill, + "Speaking Our Language" - BBC) I have seen the informal pronoun "thu." I read somewhere that this is the lenited version of the pronoun, which has gradually been used more and more in the language. Where is it still suitable to use "tu"? If there are options available, then I would like to use "tu" as I tend to like slightly old-fashioned grammar.

[poor_mouse]

There are some rules about where it must be "tu": faodaidh tu, nan gabhadh tu, is tusa...
You'll see them later.

[MarcMacUilleim]

It's pretty much always "tu":
- with the conditional - "an canadh tu...?"
- with the regular future independent form - "Fàgaidh tu" "Ruithidh tu"
- with the relative future - "Cuin' a bhios tu air ais?"
- with some irregular past tenses = "Am faca tu?" "An cuala tu"

It's pretty much always "thu"
- with negative and interrogative forms of the regular future - "Am fàg thu? "Nach ruith thu?"
- with "bhith", apart from the relative future and conditional, as above - "Ciamar a tha thu?" "An robh thu...?" "A bheil thu...?" "Am bi thu...?"

[Ilovelatinandgaelic]

Thanks Marc! Much appreciated.

[GunChleoc]

There are basically 3 contexts wher you have "tu"

- With some irregular verb forms

- After verb forms ending with s, or dh

- After the question particle ("An tusa a th' ann?")

This is all caused by sounds working together - you can read more about this on http://akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Th ... _to_lenite