Ceist no dhà air gràmar/facail

[Iain Buthchanain]

Halò,

Tha mi'n dòchas gun urrainn do duineigin mo chuideachadh, mas e ur toil e.
Ciamar a chanas mi:

"Even more X than usual"
"I have(n't) done X for [X period of time]"

[Níall Beag]

"I have(n't) done X for [X period of time]"

Let's start with the English -- not wanting to be funny or anything, but a traditional view of grammar sees everything as though it goes with everything else, and sometimes making things negative isn't as straightforward as you expect it to be.

The negative "I haven't done this in/for/since...", fair enough, but take away "n't" and you get something rarely said. The best equivalent positive form is "I've been doing this for/since..."

Now that we've got the English, we can look for the Gaelic.

I haven't seen you in a long time.
'S fhada nach fhaca mi thu.

I haven't eaten in a long time.
'S fhada nach do dh'ithe mi

I think (hopefully someone else will confirm) that once we have a specific time it goes like this:

I haven't seen you in a month.
Chan fhaca mi thu fad mios.

I haven't eaten since Monday.
Cha do dh'ith mi o chionn DiLuain.


On to the positives:
I've been doing this for/since

You've got a choice between a complicated structure or a very simple one, which we were discussing here a couple of days ago.

I've been doing this for three years.
Complicated:
Tha mi air a bhith a' deanamh seo fad trì bliadhna.
Easy:
Tha mi a' deanamh seo le trì bliadhna.
(Literally I am doing this with three years.)


(Ceartachadh: cha dh'ith-> cha do dh'ith)

[GunChleoc]

How about: Cha do rinn mi X o chionn fhada

Even more X than usual = Fiù 's barrachd X (genitive) na b' àbhaist do/a...

Agus beagan cheartachadh:

duineigin: one says cuideigin

nach do dh'ith mi
cha do dh'ith mi

dèanamh le sràc