PASSIVE VOICE.
Affirmative Mood.
Simple Tenses.
Negative Mood.
Subjunctive Mood.
Compound Tenses
Affirmative Mood.
Negative Mood.
Subjunctive Mood.
Examples of Verbs of the Second Conjugation.
Orduich,to appoint.
ACTIVE VOICE.
Simple Tenses
Folaich,to hide.
ACTIVE VOICE.
The Compound tenses may be easily learned from those of the Verb Buail in the first Conjugation, being formed exactly in the same manner.
Formation of the Tenses.
Of the Initial Form.
An Initial Consonant is aspirated in the Preterite Tense, through all the Moods and Voices, except in the Preterite Subjunctive after the Particles ni, mur, nach, gu, an, am. An initial Consonant is occasionally aspirated in the Future Tense, and in the Infinitive and Participle, indicating their connection with the preceding word.
In the first Conjugation, do is prefixed to the Pret. Aff. and Neg. Active and Passive. However, it often is, and always may be, omitted before the Pret. Aff. It is sometimes omitted in the Pret. Neg. in verse, and in common conversation. In the second Conjugation, the same Particle do is prefixed to the Preterite through all the Moods and Voices, and to the Fut. Subj. excepting only the Subjunctive Tenses after ni, mur, nach, gu, an, am. In thisConjugation, do always loses theoto avoid ahiatus, and thedis aspirated in the Affirm. and Subjunct. Moods[49].
Of the Termination.
In all regular Verbs, the Terminations adjected to the Root are, strictly speaking, the same in Verbs characterised by a small vowel. But where the first vowel of the Termination does not correspond in quality to the last vowel of the Root, it has become the constant practice to insert in the Termination a vowel of the requisite quality, in order to produce this correspondence. Thus a variety has been introduced into the Terminations even of regular Verbs, prejudicial to the uniformity of inflection, and of no use to ascertain either the sense or the pronunciation[50]. In the foregoing examples of regular Verbs, the common mode of Orthography has been followed, but in the following rules the simple Terminations only are specified.
ACTIVE VOICE.
Simple Tenses.
The Theme or Root of the Verb is always found in the second Per. sing. of the imperative.
ThePreteriteAffirm. and Negat. is like the Root, and has no distinction of Number or Person. In most of the editions of the Gaelic Psalms, some inflections of thePreterite have been admitted, with good effect, from the Irish Verb; such as, bhuaileasI struck, bhuailisthou didst strike, bhuaileamarwe struck, bhuaileadarthey struck. The Pret. Subj. is formed by adding to the Rootinnfor the first pers. sing., andadhfor the other persons. The first pers. plur. also terminates inamaid.
TheFutureAffirm. addsidhto the Root; in the Negat. it is like the Root; and in the Subjunct. it addsas. A poetic Future Tense terminating inannoronn, is frequent in the Gaelic Psalms; as, gairionnwill call, seasfannwill stand, do bheirionn,will give, &c. The Future has no distinction of Number or Person. The Termination of the Future Affirm. and Negat. in many Verbs was formerlyfidh, like the Irish; of which many examples occur in the earlier editions of the Gaelic Psalms. In later Gaelic publications, thefhas been uniformly set aside[51]. The Termination of the first pers. and third pers. plur. is often incorporated with the corresponding Pronoun; as, seinnam cliuI will sing praise, Psal. lxi. 8., Ni fuigham bàs, ach mairfam beo,I shall not die, but shall remain alive, Ps. cxviii. 17., Ithfid, geillfid, innsid,they will eat,they will submit,they will tell, Ps. xxii, 26, 29, 31.[52].
In theImperativeMood, the second pers. sing. is the Root of the Verb. The other persons are distinguished by these Terminations; 1st pers. sing.am, 3d pers. sing.adh, 1st pers. plur.amaid, 2d pers. plur.ibh, 3d pers. plur.adh.
The Terminations peculiar to the 1st pers. sing. and plur. of the Pret. Subj. and of the Imperat. supply the place of the Personal Pronouns; as does also the Termination of the 2d pers. plur. of the Imperative.
TheInfinitiveis variously formed.
General Rule.The Infinitive is formed by addingadhto the Root; as, aombow, incline, Infin. aomadh; itheat, Infin. itheadh.
1. Some Verbs suffer a syncope in the penult syllable, and are commonly used in their contracted form; as,
Observe that Verbs which thus suffer a syncope in formingthe Infinitive, suffer a like syncope in the Preterite Subjunctive, and in the Imperative Mood; as, innistell, Infin. innseadh, Pret. Subj. innsinn, innseadh, innseamaid, Imperat. innseam, innseamaid, innsibh.
2. A considerable number of Verbs have their Infinitive like the Root; as,
3. Polysyllables inch, whose characteristic Vowel is small, either throw it away, or convert it into a broad Vowel and addadh; as,
Most Monosyllables insg, and a few others, follow the same Rule; as,
4. Many Verbs, whose characteristic Vowel is small, either throw it away, or convert it into a broad Vowel, without addingadh; as,
5. The following Verbs inairaddtto the Root:—
6. These Monosyllables addsinnto the Root:—
7. These Monosyllables addtuinnortinnto the Root:—
8. The following Monosyllables addailto the Root:—
9. These Monosyllables addamhto the Root:—
10. The following Verbs form the Infinitive irregularly:—
Compound Tenses.
Thecompound Tenses of the first orderare made up of the several simple Tenses of the auxiliary verb Bibe, and the Infinitive preceded by the Preposition agat. Between two Consonants, ag commonly loses theg, and is writtena'; as,ta iad a' deanamhthey are doing. Between two Vowels, theais dropped, and thegis retained; as, ta mi 'g iarruidhI am asking. When preceded by a Consonant, and followed by a Vowel, the Preposition is written entire, as, ta iad ag iarruidhthey are asking. When preceded by a Vowel, and followed by a Consonant, it is often suppressed altogether; as, ta mi deanamhI am doing[53].
Thecompound Tenses of the second orderare made up of the simple Tenses of Bi and the Infinitive preceded by the Preposition iarafter[54].
PASSIVE VOICE.
Simple Tenses.
ThePreteriteAffirm. and Negat. is formed from the same Tense in the Active, by addingadh. The Preter. Subj. addsteadh.
TheFutureis formed from the Fut. Act. by changing the Terminations in the Affirm. and Subj. intoar, (more properlyfar, as of old) and adding the same syllable in the Negative.
TheImperativeis formed from the Imperat. Act. by adding to the second pers. sing.tar,thar, orar.[55]
TheParticipleis formed by addingteto the Root[56].
There is no distinction of Number or Person in the Tenses of the Passive Voice.
Verbs which suffer a syncope in the Infinitive, suffer a like syncope in the Pret. Aff. and Neg. throughout the Future Tense, and in the Imperative.
Compound Tense.
Thecompound Tenses of the first orderare made up of the simple Tenses of the auxiliary Bi and the Passive Participle.
Thecompound Tenses of the second orderare made up of the simple Tenses ofBiand the Infinitive preceded by the Prepositioniarand the Possessive Pronoun corresponding in Person to the Pronoun, or to the Noun, which is the Nominative to the verb.
Use and Import of the Moods and Tenses.
TheAffirmativeorIndicativeMood expresses affirmation, and is used in affirmative propositions only, as, Do bhuail miI struck, bha mi ag bualadhI was striking.
TheNegativeorInterrogativeMood is used in negative propositions and interrogative clauses, after the Particles ninot, chanot, nachwhich not,that not,not?murif not; also, gu, gur,that, an, am, whether used relatively or interrogatively; as, cha d'fholaich miI did not hide, mur buail sinnif we shall not strike, nach robh iadthat they were not, gu robh iadthat they were; am buail mi?shall I strike?It is used in the Future Tense after gedalthough; as, ged bhuail e mi,though he strike me[57].
TheSubjunctiveMood is used in the Preterite, either with or without conjunctions; as, bhuailinnI would strike, na'm, mur, nach, &c., buailinnif, unless, &c., I should strike. In the Future it is used only after the conjunctions maif, o, o'nsince, and the Relativeaexpressed or understood; as, ma bhuaileas miif I shall strike, am fear a bhuaileas mithe manwho will strike me, orthe man whom I shall strike; an uair a bhuaileas mi, tra bhuaileas mithe time [in] which I shall strike, i. e., when I shall strike; c'uin [cia ùine] a bhuaileas mi?what [is] the time [in] which I shall strike? i. e., when shall I strike?
TheImperativeMood expresses desire, whether purpose, command, or request; as, buaileamlet me strike, buailibhstrike ye.
TheInfinitive[58]is, in all respects, a noun, denoting the action or energy of the verb, and commonly preceded by a Preposition which marks the time of the action; as, ag bualadhat striking, am bualadhthe striking, the threshing. It assumes a regular genitive case, bualadh g. s. bualaidh; as, urlar-bualaidha threshing floor. The Infinitive sometimes loses the termination, and is regularly declined in its abridged form; thus, cruinnichassemble, inf. cruinneach-adh per. apocop. cruinneach g. s. cruinnich; hence, àite-cruinnicha place of meeting, Acts xix. 29, 31, so, fear-criochnaich, Heb. xii. 2, fear-cuidich, Psalm xxx. 10, liv. 4, ionad-foluich, Psalm xxxii. 7, cxix. 114, litir-dhealaich, Matt. v. 31[59].
There is no part of the Active Voice that can, strictly speaking, be denominated a Participle. The Infinitive preceded by the Preposition agat, corresponds in meaning to the present Participle; and preceded by iarafter, it corresponds to the participle of the past time; as, ag bualadhat striking, orstriking; iar bualadhafter striking, orstruck[60].
Many words, expressing state or action, take the Prepositionagbefore them, and may be considered as Infinitives of Verbs, whereof the other parts are not in use; as, ag atharraismimicking, ag gàireachdaichlaughing, a' fanoid, a' magadhmocking,jeering.
TheParticiplepassive is an adjective, denoting the completion of the action or energy expressed by the verb; as, arbhar buailtethreshed corn.
TheSimple Tenseswhich belong to all verbs are the Preterite or Future, besides which the verb Bi tobe, and the defective verb Is Iam, have a Present Tense[61].
ThePresentexpresses present existence, state, or energy.
ThePreterite AffirmativeandNegativeexpresses past time indefinitely. ThePreterite Subjunctivecorresponds to the English Tenses formed by the auxiliarieswould,could, &c. In general it denotes that the action or energy of the verb takes place eventually or conditionally. The Pret. Aff. orNeg. is used sometimes in this sense, like the English, when the Pret. Subj. occurred in the preceding clause of a sentence, as, na'm biodh tus' an so, cha d' fhuair mo bhrathair bàs,if thou hadst been here, my brother had not [would not have] died; mur bitheamaid air deanamh moille bha sinn a nis air pilltinn air ar n-ais,if we had not lingered, we had [should have] now returned, Gen. xliii. 10.
TheFuturemarksfuture time indefinitely. This Tense is used in a peculiar sense in Gaelic, to signify that an action or event takes place uniformly, habitually, according to ordinary practice, or the course of nature. Thus; Blessed is he thatconsidereththe poor, expressed according to the Gaelic idiom, would be, Blessed is he thatwill consider, &c. A wise sonmaketha glad father, in Gaelic would run, A wise sonwill make, &c. Your patient, I am told, is in a bad way; he neitherenjoysrest, nortakesmedicine. Nay, his situation is worse than you know of; yesterday, he became delirious, and is now almost unmanageable; hetosseshis arms, andendeavoursto beat every one within his reach. In Gaelic,will enjoy—will take—will toss—will endeavour. In like manner, a great many Gaelic Proverbs express a general truth by means of the Future tense;e.g., bithidh dùil ri fear feachd, ach cha bhi dùil ri fear lic,Thereishope that a man may return from war, but thereisno hope that a man may return from the grave; literally, therewill behope—therewill beno hope. Teirgidh gach ni r' a chaitheamh,every thingwearsout in the using; literally,—will wearout[62].
TheCompound Tensesmark different modifications of time,which will be easily understood by analysing their component parts.
In theActive Voice, the compound tenses of the first order denote that the action is going on, but not completed at the time specified by the auxiliary verb, or its adjuncts; as, ta mi ag bualadh,I am at striking, i.e.,I am striking; bha mi agbualadhan dé,I was striking yesterday.
Those of the second order denote that the action is newly completed and past, at the time marked by the auxiliary verb; ta mi iar bualadh,I am after striking, i.e.,I have struck,Je viens de frapper; Bha mi iar bualadh,I was striking, i.e.,I had struck.
In thePassive Voice, the compound tenses of the first order denote that the action isfinishedat the time marked by the auxiliary verb; ta mi buailte,I am struck.
Those of the second order denote that the action isnewly finishedat the time marked by the auxiliary[63]; ta mi iar mo bhualadh,I am after my striking, or,I am after the striking of me, which has always a passive signification; that is, it is always understood, from this form of expression, thatstrikingis the action of some agent different from the person struck. It is equivalent toI have been struck,Je viens d'etre frappé.
A set of Compound Tenses, of a structure similar to these last, having the preposition ag, in place of iar, is sometimes used, and in a passive sense, denoting that the action isgoing onat the time marked by the auxiliary; as, tha 'n tigh 'g a thogail,the house is at its building, i.e.,a-building; sea bliadhna agus da fhichead bha 'n teampull 'g a thogail,forty and six years was this temple in building. John ii. 20, 1 Kings vi. 7. Bha an crodh 'g an leigeadh,the cows were a-milking; bidh deudaichean 'g an rusgadh. "Gillies' Collect." p. 82. Soin English, the book is a-printing; the deed's a-doing now, "Douglas," Act 1.
The following scheme shows the different modifications of time, as expressed by the several Tenses of the Gaelic Verb, brought together into one view, and compared with the corresponding Tenses of the Greek Verb in Moor's Greek Grammar.
It will afford satisfaction to the grammatical reader, to see how correctly the various modifications of time, as distinguished and arranged by Mr Harris, are expressed in the Gaelic verb, by the auxiliaries, bibe, and dolgoing. SeeHermes B. I. c. 7.
Irregular Verbs of the First Conjugation.
Irregular Verbs of the Second Conjugation.