Fòram na Gàidhlig

Two things i thought of whilst procrastinating today.

's e is used to emphasise nouns (e.g. 'S e iain a chuannaic mi air a' bhus) and 's ann for emphasising everything else ('s ann air a' bhus a chuannaic mi iain). So why is the phrase 's math sin and not 's ann math sin? Does math act as a noun?


Also, every time i have heard or seen anyone use dhith to show need, dhith has been straight after whatever is needed ('S airgead a dhith orm). Does dhith always have to be straight after whatever is needed, or can the sentence be inverted to have dhith before whatever is needed?

So why is the phrase 's math sin and not 's ann math sin? Does math act as a noun?

'S math sin is not a fronted phrase (the 's at the beginning is just a short form of is, not of 's e), it's best to regard it as a historical relic applicable only to this type of fairly marked construction (i.e. IS + ADJ + (PRO)NOUN)

Does dhith always have to be straight after whatever is needed, or can the sentence be inverted to have dhith before whatever is needed?

'S airgead a dhith orm isn't grammatical. It's either 'S e airgead a tha a dhìth orm or Tha airgead a dhìth orm. You could say 'S ann a dhìth orm a tha an t-airgead (i.e. just use the standard fronting patter) but I've never heard this and I can't find my examples on the web. In a normal sentence, a dhìth air does always come after the noun, as the noun is the subject here which has to precede the predicate.

It's 'the other way round' from the way English looks at it. In English items possessed or missed are (grammatically) passive i.e. not the subject usually. "We have a dog" "We need money" have "We" as the subject. But in Gaelic the item possessed or missed is (grammatically) the agent/subject. Tha cù agam very clearly has the dog in the subject slot. Similarly, tha airgead a dhìth orm "is money of (reduced form of de) need on me" has airgead in the subject slot, not the object/predicate slot as English does.

There's a song called "Tha Dith Nam Brog Air Donnchadh Dubh", but I don't know if this construction would be used in normal conversation.

Yes but it has a different nuance. Tha brògan a dhìth orm = I need shoes, Tha dìth bhrògan orm = I'm in need of shoes