Direction/Position i.e. up/down

[jasonleitch]

How are these contextually used?

sìos@ - down(wards)
shìos@ - down (in position)
a-nuas@ - down (from above)


suas@ - up(wards)
shuas@ - up(in position)
a-nìos@ - up (from below)

[jasonleitch]

the @ marks are part for a flash card program I wrote, it means it doesn't show me what comes after @ until I click the "meaning" button, I just copy/pasted

[faoileag]

Everything relates to the perspective of the subject of the sentence, or the speaker.

Tha mi a' dol suas an staidhe - I'm going up the stairs (movement upwards)
Tha mo sheòmar-cadail shuas an staidhre. My bedroom is upstairs (no movement - simply the position of the room)

Same with sìos.

Tha mi a' dol sìos an rathad - I'm going down the road.
Tha an eaglais shìos an rathad - the church is down the road.

A-nuas - downwards from above, towards the subject or speaker
Thig a-nuas! Come down!

a-nìos - upwards from below, towrds teh subject / speaker!
Thig a-nìos!
Come up!

[akerbeltz]

A pretty tame system overall, no indication of visible vs invisible for example

[jasonleitch]

Excellent, thank you.

[jasonleitch]

Don't want to start a new thread for this but, 'is' as in 'and' as in caol ri caol is lethann ri lethann

it's supposed to mean some sort of kinship or connection?

[akerbeltz]

say that again? i'm struggling to figure what you meant there

[faoileag]

I think what you're asking about is when 'and' is translated by 'agus', and when by 'is'.

If so, 'is' is a short form of 'agus', and is used, in writing at least, mainly when the two items or people are a natural, typical pair in some way. Salt and pepper, mother and father, etc.

I'd say that in speech it gets used more, for speed / ease.

It even gets shortened itself, to 's, sometimes.

Mo mhàthair 's mo sheanmhair.


It has nothing at all to do with the verb 'is', as used in Is mise Màiri - I'm Màiri.

Over to Ak....

[jasonleitch]

Aye, that's what I meant. Makes more practical sense than "kinship", cheers