Tenses: I am a tad confuzzled!

[*Alasdair*]

Hey there I though as i haven't asked for help in a wee whiley i'd rack your brains with this question. It is all about that wonderful thing we like to call tense.
First off, i will start with regular verbs, i will use "Coimhead: To watch".

I understand fully how you get:

An robh thu a' coimhead? (WERE you watching?)
Bha/Cha robh mi a' coimhead. (I WAS/WASN'T watching)
Tha/Chan eil mi a' coimhead. (I AM/AM NOT watching)
Bith/Cha bi mi a' coimhead. (I WILL BE/WILL NOT BE watching)

However, i don't really understand:

Cha choimhead (Future negative)
Coimheadaidh (Future ???)

What do these two mean and how do you use them? I just don't see what they could possibly mean. How could you, in the case of Cha choimhead, not have watched something in the future, which is still yet to happen?

Please help

[yellow-ceitidh]

I'm not sure at all, but could cha coimhead be past tense for 'I didn't watch' although I would have thought it would have had a do in it, like cha do thuit - 'I didn't fall'.

And the other one - coimheadaidh. I thought adding aidh or idh onto the end of a verb made it future, a bit like in English you say 'I will'. Like the Runrig song Tillidh Mi, which means 'I will return', or when you say gabhaidh mi cofaidh - 'I will take coffee'.

[neoni]

cha choimhead is "i will not watch", as opposed to "i will not be watching" (cha bhi mi a' coimhead)
for example - "cha choimhead mi TBh a-nochd, tha sinn a' dol a-mach" (i won't watch tv tonight, we're going out"



people tend to use the bha/tha/bidh construction wrongly. saying "bha mi a' tuiteam" (i was falling), for example, means something completely different from "thuit mi" (i fell).
the distinction is EXACTLY the same as in english;
"i was doing that (when the phone rang)"
"i did that (and now it's finished"

[*Alasdair*]

I'm not sure at all, but could cha coimhead be past tense for 'I didn't watch' although I would have thought it would have had a do in it, like cha do thuit - 'I didn't fall'.

And the other one - coimheadaidh. I thought adding aidh or idh onto the end of a verb made it future, a bit like in English you say 'I will'. Like the Runrig song Tillidh Mi, which means 'I will return', or when you say gabhaidh mi cofaidh - 'I will take coffee'.

Right. I understand now (It is the same in French too).
Cha choimhead - I will not watch BUT
Cha bi mi a' coimhead - I will not be watching

Choimheadaidh - I will watch BUT
Bith mi a' coimhead - I will be watching

cha choimhead is "i will not watch", as opposed to "i will not be watching" (cha bhi mi a' coimhead)
for example - "cha choimhead mi TBh a-nochd, tha sinn a' dol a-mach" (i won't watch tv tonight, we're going out"



people tend to use the bha/tha/bidh construction wrongly. saying "bha mi a' tuiteam" (i was falling), for example, means something completely different from "thuit mi" (i fell).
the distinction is EXACTLY the same as in english;
"i was doing that (when the phone rang)"
"i did that (and now it's finished"

Tapadh leibh
Tha mi a' tuigsinn a-nis.

[Stìophan]

Just to add a wee bit more info, Alasdair:

Basically in English we have simple tenses and compound tenses, as mentioned before (I watch, I am watching).

In Gaelic we have this also, but NOT in the present tense. There is only the equivalent of the compound present tense, thus Tha mi a' coimhead can mean both I watch and I am watching, but however this does NOT apply to other tenses in most cases.

However there are exceptions, e.g. Smaoineachadh

I don't know abou anyone else but I have never seen Smaoin mi, Cha do smaoin mi, only Bha/cha robh mi a' smaoineachadh etc

Hope this helps

[neoni]

you do see smaoinich mi and cha do smaoinich mi, though

[Stìophan]

you do see smaoinich mi and cha do smaoinich mi, though

Ah, wasn't sure what the 'root' of smaoineachadh was!

Thanks for that Neoni!

Do you use Smaoinich mi gun do X for I thought that X

I always tend to use Bha mi a' smaoineachadh

[*Alasdair*]

You also have "Saoilidh mi" - I think
That means the same as "Tha mi a' smoaineachadh i think...

Saoilidh mi gu bheil thu ceart - I think that you are right

[neoni]

yup, i use "smaonich mi gun do.."

a way i use for finding out if a construction is used is to type it into google in quotes
http://www.google.com/search?name=f&hl= ... +mi+gun%22


to avoid problems with tenses, you could use "bha mi den bheachd/bharail"

[neoni]

You also have "Saoilidh mi" - I think
That means the same as "Tha mi a' smoaineachadh i think...

Saoilidh mi gu bheil thu ceart - I think that you are right

yup, that's a good phrase too. "cha chreid mi" works the same, for the negative, but you can make it positive by giving a negative conjunction
"cha chreid mi nach eil thu ceart" - i think that you are right (i don't believe you are not right)

i think saying "saoilidh mi" makes your gaelic sound a lot better than always saying "tha mi a' smaoineachadh", by the way. hang on to that phrase and use it lots.



edit: thinking about it (not something i do often), i think saoilidh mi is a wee bit stronger than "tha mi a' smaoineachadh", coming originally from meaning "i think and will continue to do so"

[Stìophan]

Yes, I agree with you there as well neoni, I think Saoilidh mi etc is a bit stronger than tha mi a' smaoineachadh.

Saoil, can also be used in the context of imagine as well as think:

Saoil gu bheil e ceart! Imagine he's right

[faoileag]

I would say 'Saoilidh mi' when it's my fairly permanent, black and white opinion, assumption, supposition, and 'tha mi a' smaoineachadh' when it's something I have just thought of and may yet revise, or only relevant to the current situation.

The simple future form implies regular activity or factual statement, the 'tha mi a'...' one implies ongoing or current activity or opinion.

Nach eil thu a' smaoineachadh gu bheil e rud beag fuar anns an t-seòmar seo? - Don't you think it's a bit cold in this room? = at the moment

Saoilidh mi gu bheil Gàidhlig gu math cumanta ann an Leòdhas fhathast.
- I think/suppose/imagine/am of the opinion that G. is quite common in Lewis. = as a general statement

[amhlaobh]

Cha bi mi a' coimhead - I will not be watching

Just a small note: it's cha bhì. Remember, "cha" lenites.

[Níall Beag]

Creid & Smaoinich:

English speakers are arrogant. We think we're all intellectuals.

For this reason, we say "I think" a lot, because we reckon thinking's intelligent. We don't like to say "I believe" much, because we believe that would make us look uncertain and irrational.

However, the rest of Europe are more laid back and self assured. They don't worry about coming across as unconfident. They are happy to say "we believe".

"Does John have a bike?"
English speaker: "I think so."
Other European: "I believe so."

You don't calculate whether John has a bike. You don't sit down and work it out. It's not an intellectual endeavour. You just have this vague recollecting of him wearing a hi-vis jacket and helmet.

Gaels use "creid" far more than English speakers use "believe", but use "smaoinich" more than most mainland Europeans, which is probably a result of us learners who keep trying to speak English even when we're not speaking English....

[Seonaidh]

"Does John have a bike?"
English speaker: "I think so."
Other European: "I believe so."

You don't calculate whether John has a bike. You don't sit down and work it out. It's not an intellectual endeavour. You just have this vague recollecting of him wearing a hi-vis jacket and helmet.

Gaels use "creid" far more than English speakers use "believe", but use "smaoinich" more than most mainland Europeans, which is probably a result of us learners who keep trying to speak English even when we're not speaking English....

- happen it depends what seorsa English you're on about! Some say "happen", some say "Aa reckon swa like" - and some even say "I believe so".

But Lille Nils is probably generally ceart. F'rinstance, in the Welsh it would be usual to say "Fi'n credu fod un ganddo" or owt similar. I allus felt a little odd using "creidsinn", as nobody else was - s'pose they're all Manglots or something. Incidentally, that Welsh roughly translates as "Tha mi a' creidsinn gu bheil aon aige".