Contents
1.1: Tha Present Tense
1.2: Faclair
1.3: Obair
1.4: Chan eil
1.5: Nach eil
1.6: A Bheil
1.7: Obair eile
The verb to be in English maps to two different verbs in Gaelic. One of these two verbs is Bi, the present tense of which is tha. Conjugating tha with the personal pronouns yields:
Tha mi I am
Tha thu You are (informal)
Tha e He is
Tha i She is
Tha sinn We are
Tha sibh You are (formal)
Tha iad They are
Note that gaelic has two personal pronouns for you, one corresponding to the informal situation of peers, children, friends, etc. The other form is a more formal one used for elders and other cases requiring a show of respect.
Tha is used in constructions linking a noun to a condition, e.g.:
Here is a short list of vocabulary words to enable us to construct
some simple sentences.
sgìth tired
fluich wet
teth hot
fuar cold
tinn sick
tioram dry
luath swift
dubh black
bàn fair, white
mór big, great
beag small, little
agus and
ach but
cù m. dog
cat m. cat
teine m. fire
dorus m. door
taigh m. house
falt m. hair
Seumas m. James
Màiri f. Mary
aig at
air on
anns in
an the, (definite article)
Now let us make some sentences.
Very good. Now we will look at the negation of tha. To
express this we use chan eil and so conjugation yields:
Chan eil mi I am not
Chan eil thu You are not
Chan eil e He is not
Chan eil i She is not
Chan eil sinn We are not
Chan eil sibh You are not
Chan eil iad They are not
And while we are at it let us introduce the negative interrogative nach eil.
Nach eil mi Am I not?
Nach eil thu Are you not?
Nach eil e Is he not?
Nach eil i Is she not?
Nach eil sinn Are we not?
Nach eil sibh Are you not?
Nach eil iad Are they not?
The fully interrogative form is a bheil, sometime written as
am bheil or a' bheil, but all forms reflect that
the m is practically silent before b.
Here are some more sentences:
A bheil mi Am I?
A bheil thu Are you?
A bheil e Is he?
A bheil i Is she?
A bheil sinn Are we?
A bheil sibh Are you?
A bheil iad Are they?
Obair eile
Note that the response to the interrogative, either negative or positive, is the appropriate form of the verb. There is no form of yes or no in Gaelic.