Fòram na Gàidhlig

Sorry if this has been asked before, i wasn't sure how to phrase my search.

In one of my first gaelic lessons, i learned that to say, for example, 'I am a Student', i would say: 'Is mise Oileanach'. However, i have recently learned that this can be said as 'Tha mi 'Nam Oileanach'. Can both of these be used interchangeably, or is one more proper. Can it also be phrased as 'Tha mi oileanach?'

Thanks.

Hi, Teddy,

I can tell you, how I' ve learnt it.

So here we go:

Is mise = you "only" use this phrase, if you wanna say something, that can't change easily, e.g. Is mise boireannach = I am a woman; is mise Spàinnteach, is mise Teddy a.s.o.

Tha mi nam ...= if you tell other about you current job, indifferent, whether you have learnt it or not. e.g. Tha mi nam dhràibhear-tacsaidh = I might not have learnt it, but i work as taxidriver because of what reason how ever.

'S e tìdsear a th' annam= if you talk about the job, you' ve learnd, even if you do not work in it. e.g. 'S e tìdsear a th' annam, ach tha mi nam dhràibhear-tacsaidh. I've learnt teacher, but I am working as a taxidriver at the moment.

That might sound difficult, but with these "rules" in my mind, it has alway worked out fine so far.

Ldd

Màiri

Is mise X is a very "Irish" thing to do. In Scottish Gaelic it sounds at best antiquated, at worst plain wrong.
Tha mi oileanach doesn't work at all, because "tha" can't be used with a noun -- only with an adjective (eg "tha mi sgìth" -- I'm tired) or a phrase beginning with a preposition (eg "tha e anns a' chidsin" -- he is in the kitchen).

There are two structures you can use.

The first uses is:
'S e xxxx a th' annam.
Literally "It's an xxxx tha is in me."

EG. 'S e Albannach a th' annam.

The second relies on tha only:
Tha mi nam xxxx.
Literally "I'm in my xxxx"

EG. Tha mi nam neach-teagaisg. (I'm a teacher.)

You can use either one for a career, because it's something that defines you for life, but I'd be wary about using the first for a temporary job, and so by extension, it's probably not brilliant for "student" either.


One other thing: watch your capitals. It's Tha mi nam oileanach. The rules of capitalisation are mostly the same as English -- the only big difference is that we capitalise "I" in English, but "mi" isn't capitalised. The only nouns that take a capital are "proper nouns" -- ie "names": John/Iain, Glasgow/Glaschu, Scotland/Alba. Adjectives from placenames get capitalised too -- Scottish/Albannach etc. Words like "oileanach" aren't names, so shouldn't be capitalised.

Thanks, is really cleared it up for me.

I have one more (unrelated) question, i have learned that both 'i' and 'e' can be used to mean 'it'. And i have gotten in the habit of using 'i'. However, most people on here seem to use the 'e' form, and infact one person asked why i use 'i'. Is it just that 'e' is the accepted form even though both are correct, or is there other rules governing there use. (e.g. When also referencing a gender in the same sentence i.e. 'it belongs to her')?

Sorry about my capitalisation, i dont want to give excuses, but when i use my ipad to type here (it has easier access to accents) it has an annoying habit of wanting to capitalize anything wheni refocus on the text box. (e.g. When i change pages to look up a word in the gaelic dictionary and switch back it automatically tries to capitalise.)

Hi,

it might help, if you ask your self, what you are meaning with "it" Normally, you refer with it to a noun, and in gaelic, each noun is either male no female. So you can simply use the related personal pronoun.
e.g.
Tha a' chraobh àrd agus tha i brèagha.
Tha an càr agam geal agus tha e briste.

If there is the need of using prepositions, I've learnt that you definitly should use the correct gender.
e.g.Mothaich mi don sìde mhath. = I noticed the good wether.
Mhothaich mi dhi. = I noticed it.

A bheil thu a' faicinn a' chàir?
Tha, tha mi ga fhaicinn.

That works fine in most cases.

If you wanna use the impersonal Term, it is more complicated.

Is mise X is a very "Irish" thing to do. In Scottish Gaelic it sounds at best antiquated, at worst plain wrong.

With the exception of name-giving. Is mise Màiri is totally ok in Gàidhlig.

However, most people on here seem to use the 'e' form, and infact one person asked why i use 'i'. Is it just that 'e' is the accepted form even though both are correct, or is there other rules governing there use. (e.g. When also referencing a gender in the same sentence i.e. 'it belongs to her')?

What Màiri75 said but let me add a note to it - it also depends of how formal the situation is. In colloquial Gaelic, most native speakers default everything to e unless there's biological gender involved (or certain fixed items). So for example in really formal Gàidhlig this would be ok:

Tha coinneal dhearg aig an uinneig. Cheannaich mi i [i.e. a' choinneal] ann am Boots.
Seo Màiri. Tha i ag obair aig a' Chomhairle.

But colloquially you're much more likely to hear
Tha coinneal dhearg aig an uinneag. Cheannaich mi e [i.e. a' choinneal] ann am Boots.
Seo Màiri. Tha i ag obair aig a' Chomhairle.

The "fixed items" which still invoke i across the board are: language names, the weather, boats... off the top of my head, there might be a few others.

Màiri75 wrote:A bheil thu a' faicinn a' chàir?
Tha, tha mi ga fhaicinn.

Careful -- you've translated "are you seeing" here.

"Do you see...?" would be "Am faic thu...?"

(Remember in English you have a choice of "do you see...?" or "can you see...?", but not "*are you seeing".)


This isn't your fault -- it's bad teaching.
I was originally taught it that way too....

Hi Niall,

I think I have to apologise for choosing such a bad example.

I am aware of the difference between "Am faic thu " and "A bheil thu a' faicinn"
But I choose deliberatly "A bheil thu a' faicinn a' chàir"=" Are you (just now) seeing the car?"( My English is not good, but good enough to know,that this question is bad english. ), because the gender is in this moment also important if you exchange "the car" by "it". Although it is not obvious in the very first moment.
" A bheil thu ga fhaicinn?" because car is male, and on the other side "A bheil thu ga faicinn?" if it would be female.

I am sorry for I should have explained my intention inclusive tr*nsl*t**n better before.

I hadn't noticed you weren't a native English speaker -- sorry. For future reference, what is your native language?

Wow, thank you so much for this compliment.

I am not really pleased with my english, and that is the reason, why I hesitated quite a while before posting here.
But I'm not pleased with my gàidhlig either and the only thing, that helps to improve is practising, isn't it?

So I try to join in here as far as I can.

You wrote, that you are not happy with the way, you have been taught gàidhlig. Why not?

In normal life, I speak german.

Isn't Am faic thu ? "Will you see?" or "Can you see?", rather than "Do..." ?

I tried to Google A bheil thu a' faicinn ... ? and although the hits are rare, they include SMO, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Colin Mark, BBC, SNH, LearnGaelic, FilmG and SQA...
https://www.google.co.uk/search?as_q=&a ... as_rights=

It's a question of tr*nsl*t**n. First of all he's right in saying that (especially with verbs of perception and ability) the future is used traditionally rather than the present to inquire about ability, i.e. am faic/an dèan/an cluinn...

Beyond that it becomes a question of tr*nsl*t**n. Am faic thu Loch Laomainn? can arguably be translated "Can you see LL" or "Do you see LL" depending on the nuances of context. Imagine:
A: Cà bheil Lus?
B: Am faic thu Loch Laomainn?
A: Chì
B: Tha Lus air a' bhruach thall.

In this setting, "Do you see LL" in English does query the ability to see something.

akerbeltz wrote:First of all he's right in saying that (especially with verbs of perception and ability) the future is used traditionally rather than the present to inquire about ability, i.e. am faic/an dèan/an cluinn...

Which is what I said too, but the question remains whether you can or cannot say A bheil thu a' faicinn a' chàir? in Gaelic, no matter how it literally translates into English.

As a question it's odd though it does appear in declarative sentences.

Also possibly regional? My granny's generation (East Highlands), native-speakers of Gaelic who basically just tranlslated G. into English when speaking it, always said 'Are you seeing that?' 'Are you no hearing me?''