Ceist a thaobh possession

[iolair]

Halo a h-uile,

Ciamar a chanas iad sa Ghaidhlig "Who has the book?"?

I'm tempted to try "Aig co a tha an leabhar?", but I don't think I've ever seen or heard that.

Moran taing.

[eideard]

Halo a h-uile,

Ciamar a chanas iad sa Ghaidhlig "Who has the book?"?

I'm tempted to try "Aig co a tha an leabhar?", but I don't think I've ever seen or heard that.

Moran taing.

Cò aig a tha an leabhar ?

[iolair]

Thanks. That was easy.

I thought that since aig + mi = agam, maybe that aig + cò would produce a question word.

[neoni]

or "cò leis a tha an leabhar?"

you'll already know this structure.

think of "co às a tha thu?"

on its own it looks strange, but that's how this sort of thing works. you'll also see "cò" used in a lot of places that you'd use "what" in english (or "where" as in that example).
basically, question word + masculine form of preposition (in the case of "aige", you usually just hear " aig' " and then the rest of the sentence. (not using any sort of relative structure, just the normal one)

cò mu (a) dheidhinn a tha thu a' bruidhinn? (what are you talking about?)
co còmhla ris a bha thu? (who were you with?)

think of the old fashioned "with whom were you?", "about what are you speaking?"



gaelic doesn't like to end sentences with prepositions, so you couldn't say "cò tha an leabhar aig?" - for example.

"a preposition at the end of a sentence is something up with which i will not put!" is how i remember it

[iolair]

Mòran taing!

Cò leis a tha + Noun definitely looks familiar (probably from TYI).

Something else now makes sense to me: "Cò aig fios?" must be "Who knows?"

Tha mo Ghaidhlig a' dol air adhart beag air bheag!

[eideard]

or "cò leis a tha an leabhar?"

There's a subtle difference between "cò leis a tha an leabhar ?" which means "who owns the book ?" and "Cò aig a tha an leabhar ? " which means "Who has the book?" In the second case someone might have borrowed the book or found it somewhere, but does not own it.

[neoni]

Mòran taing!

Cò leis a tha + Noun definitely looks familiar (probably from TYI).

Something else now makes sense to me: "Cò aig fios?" must be "Who knows?"

Tha mo Ghaidhlig a' dol air adhart beag air bheag!

you'll hear all kinds of crazy things with that one. personally i say "cò aig(e) (a) tha fios?" but there are lots of other things people say.

or "cò leis a tha an leabhar?"

There's a subtle difference between "cò leis a tha an leabhar ?" which means "who owns the book ?" and "Cò aig a tha an leabhar ? " which means "Who has the book?" In the second case someone might have borrowed the book or found it somewhere, but does not own it.

i've always understood the difference to be:
if something is 'agam' it is physically "at" me, in my hands, bag etc, but not that i necessesarly own it.
but that if something is 'leamsa' i own it, regardless of where it is.

so, for example, if i found a book, asking "cò aige a tha an leabhar seo?" is redundant, because it would be 'agam'

is that wrong??

[faoileag]

Tha mo Ghaidhlig a' dol air adhart beag air bheag!

In this situation I'd say 'mo chuid Gàidhlig' - my bit of G., the Gaelic that I have so far. ('cuid' is share or part)

'mo Gh.' to me sound too possessive and proclamatory - like ''Our Gaelic - the language of our forefather!'

Aige/leis:
Neoni, I agree with your analysis. But, as in English, it isn't always used precisely - c.f. 'Who does this book belong to? - Oh, it's mine!' This is said if a book is left lying around - it may well be borrowed or belong to the school/library where the conversation takes place. It's a sort of temporary ownership, so could be 'leis' OR 'aig(e)' in Gaelic.

[iolair]

Moran taing.

I've seen "mo chuid Gàidhlig" before, but I wasn't sure what it meant.

[Níall Beag]

Oh, and a book is also "le" an author, so Có leis a tha an leabhar? can also ask who wrote it.

But it's always clear from the context -- just as in English: if I say "my new book", I mean one I've just bought; whereas if Aonghas Padraig Caimbeul says the same thing, he means one he's just published.

Why le where English would use by here?
Compare these two sentences:
The Early Evening News, with John McDonald and Mary Smith.
Tha thu ag éisteachd ri Thairis an Fheasgar, le Iain Dòmhnallach 's Mairi Mac a' Ghobhain.

Gaelic authors are considered storytellers, just like newsreaders (who generally write their own copy in the UK).

[Seonaidh]

"le" airson "by" - never really thought about it - or worried over it. Airson fiosrachadh, annd a' Chuimris 's e "gan" ("Canu Aneirin", gan Ifor Williams), agus 's e "with" a tha "gan" usually. It's like colours - you cannae do a precise mapping between colour words in Welsh and colour words in Gaelic (or English). Dè "liath"? Dè "ruadh"? Dè "gorm"? Dè "glas"? Dè "bàn"? Dè "geal"? Dè "fionn"? Neo, ciamar a tha sibh ag ràdh dathan coltach ri "yellow", "red", "blue", "green", "white", "fair" is eile anns a' Ghàidhlig? Chan eil one-to-one mapping.

And this goes for these "by", "with" etc. words cuideachd. tr*nsl*t**n is not a precise, mathematical science - as anyone who has seen the results of machine tr*nsl*t**n will testify. You have to get a feel for the language.