Graiméar na Gaedhilge/Part II Chapter IV

by Christian Brothers

CHAPTER IV.

The Pronoun.

203. In Irish there are nine classes of Pronouns:​—​Personal, Reflexive, Prepositional, Relative, Demonstrative, Indefinite, Distributive, Interrogative, and Reciprocal pronouns. There are no Possessive pronouns in Irish.

204.

Personal Pronouns.

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
1st pers.	mé, I		sinn, we
2nd pers.	tú, thou		siḃ, you
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	sé, he sí, she	siad, they

Each of the above may take an emphatic increase, equivalent to the English suffix self.

205.

Emphatic Forms of the Personal Pronouns.

1st pers.	mise, myself			sinne, ourselves
2nd pers.	tusa, thyself			siḃse, yourselves
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	seisean, himself sise, herself	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	siad-san, themselves

206. The word féin is added to the personal pronouns to form the reflexive pronouns; as do ḃuaileas mé féin, I struck myself.

The reflexive pronouns are as follows:—

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
mé féin, myself	sinn féin, ourselves
tú féin, thyself	siḃ féin, yourselves
é féin, himself í féin, herself	iad féin, themselves

207. The above are also used as emphatic pronouns; as, Ċuaḋamar a ḃaile, mé féin agus é féin. Both he and I went home.

208. The Personal Pronouns have no declension.

It has already been shown that mo, do, a, etc., which are usually given as the genitive cases of the personal pronouns, are not pronouns, but adjectives; because they can never be used without a noun.

The compounds of the pronouns with the preposition do (to) are usually given as the dative cases of the personal pronouns; but agam, agat, etc., or the compounds with any of the other prepositions in par. 216, are just as much the datives of the personal pronouns as dom, duit, &c. Hence the Irish personal pronouns have no declension.

209. The Personal Pronouns have however two forms:​—​The conjunctive and the disjunctive. The conjunctive forms are used only immediately after a verb as its subject; in all other positions the disjunctive forms must be used. The disjunctive forms are also used after the verb is.

The reason why these forms follow is is that the word immediately after is is predicate,^[1] not subject; and it has just been stated that the conjunctive forms can be used only in immediate connection with a verb as its subject.

Conjunctive Pronouns.

210.	mé	tú,		sé,	sí,	sinn,		siḃ,		siad.
Disjunctive Pronouns.
211.	mé	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	tú, ṫú,	é,	í,	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	sinn, inn,	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	siḃ, iḃ,	iad,

In mé, tú, ṫú, the vowel is often shortened in Munster, when there is no stress or emphasis. It is shortened in mé, sé, é, siad and iad in Ulster, when there is no stress.

212. The disjunctive pronouns can be nominatives to verbs, but then they will be separated from the verbs: or they may be used in immediate connection with a verb as its object.

He is a man, is fear é (nominative).

He was the king, dob’é an rí é (both nominatives).

This is smaller than that, is luġa é seo ná é siúd (both nominatives).

I did not strike him, níor ḃuaileas é (accusative).

The Neuter Pronoun eaḋ.

213. The pronoun eaḋ is most frequently used in replying to a question asked with any part of the verb is followed by an indefinite predicate.^[2] Naċ breáġ an lá é? Is eaḋ go deiṁin. Isn’t it a fine day? It is indeed. An Sacsanaċ é? Ní h‑eaḋ. Is he an Englishman? He is not.

This pronoun corresponds very much with the "unchangeable le" in French: as, Etes-vous sage? Oui, je le suis.

Whenever is in the question is followed by a pronoun, eaḋ cannot be used in the reply. An é Cormac an rí? Ní h‑é. Is Cormac the king? He is not.

Is eaḋ is usually contracted to ’seaḋ (shăh).

214. The phrase is eaḋ (’seaḋ) is often used to refer to a clause going before; as, i gCaṫair na Mart, is eaḋ, ċodail mé aréir. In Westport, it was, that I slept last night. Nuair is mó an anḟoċain (anaċain), is eaḋ, is goire an ċabhair. When the distress is greatest, then it is that help is nearest.

215. In Munster when the predicate is an indefinite noun it is usual to turn the whole sentence into an eaḋ-phrase; as​—​It is a fine day. Lá breáġ, ’seaḋ é. He is a priest Sagart, ’seaḋ é. He was a slave. Daor, dob ’eaḋ é. Elsewhere these sentences would be, is lá breáġ é; is sagart é; ba ḋaor é.

Prepositional Pronouns
or
Pronominal Prepositions.

216. Fifteen of the simple prepositions combine with the disjunctive forms of the personal pronouns; and to these combinations is given the name of Prepositional Pronouns or Pronominal Prepositions.

All these compounds are very important. As five or six of them occur most frequently these will be given first, and the remainder, if so desired, may be left until the second reading of the book. The important combinations are those of the prepositions, ag, at; ar, on; le, with; ó, from; and ċun, towards.

All the combinations may take an emphatic suffix. One example will be given.

	SINGULAR.			PLURAL.
217.	ag, at or with.
1st pers.		agam,	at me	againn, at us
2nd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	agat, agad,	at thee	agaiḃ, at you
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	aige, aici,	at him at her	aca, at them

218. The combinations of ag with the emphatic suffixes.

1st pers.		agamsa, at myself	againne, at ourselves
2nd pers.		agatsa, at thyself	agaiḃse, at yourselves
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	aigesean, at himself aicisi, at herself	acasan, at themselves

		SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
219.		ar, on.
1st pers.		orm, on me	orainn, on us
2nd pers.		ort, on thee	oraiḃ, on you
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	air, on him uirri or uirṫi on her	orṫa or orra, on them

220.		do, to.
1st pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	dom,[3] dam,	to me	dúinn, to us
2nd pers.		duit, to thee		daoiḃ, díḃ, to you
3rd pers.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	dó to him di, to her		dóiḃ, to them

The initial d of these combinations and also those of de are usually aspirated except after a word ending in one of the letters d, n, t, l, s.

221.	le, with.
	liom, with me			linn, with us
	leat, with thee			liḃ, with you
	leis, with him			leo, with them
	léi, léiṫi,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	with her

222.	ó, or ua,[4] from.
	uaim,	from	me	uainn,	from	us
	uait,	"	thee	uaiḃ,	"	you
	uaiḋ,[5]	"	him	uaṫa,	"	them
	uaiṫi	"	her

SINGULAR.				PLURAL.
223. ċun, towards.
ċugam,[6]		towards	me	ċugainn,	towards	us
ċugat, ċugad,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	„	thee	ċugaiḃ,	„	you
ċuige,		„	him	ċúca,	„	them
ċuici,		„	her

224. roiṁ, before.
róṁam,		before	me	róṁainn,	before	us
róṁat, róṁad,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	„	thee	róṁaiḃ,	„	you
roiṁe, roimis,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	„	him	rómpa,	„	them
roimpi,		„	her

225. as, out.
asam,		out of	me	asainn,	out of	us
asat, asad,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	„	thee	asaiḃ,	„	you
as		„	him	asta,	„	them
aisti,		„	her

226. i, in (or ann) in.
ionnam,	in	me	ionnainn,	in	us
ionnat,	„	thee	ionnaiḃ,	„	you
ann	„	him	ionnta,	„	them
innti,	„	her

227. de off, from.
díom,	off or from	me	dínn,	off or from	us
díot,	„	thee	díḃ,	„	you
de	„	him	díoḃ,	„	them
di,	„	her

SINGULAR.			PLURAL.
228. fé, fá, faoi, under.
fúm,	under	me	fúinn,	under	us
fút,	„	thee	fúiḃ,	„	you
faoi,	„	him	fúṫa,	„	them
fúiṫi,	„	her

229. idir, between.
eadram,	between	me	eadrainn,		between	us
eadrat	„	thee	eadraiḃ,		„	you
idir é	„	him	eatorra (or eadra)	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	„	them
idir í,	„	her

230. ṫar, over or beyond.
ṫarm or ṫorm,	over	me		ṫarainn	or	ṫorainn,	over	us
ṫart or ṫort,	„	thee		ṫaraiḃ	„	ṫoraiḃ,	„	you
ṫairis	„	him	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	ṫarsa	„	ṫarsta,	„	them
ṫairsi or ṫairsti,	„	her

231. tré, through.
tríom,	through	me		trínn,	through	us
tríot,	„	thee		tríḃ,	„	you
tríd	„	him	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	tríoṫa,	„	them
tríṫi,	„	her
The t of these combinations is often aspirated.

232. um, about.
umam,	about	me		umainn,	about	us
umat,	„	thee		umaiḃ,	„	you
uime	„	him	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	umpa,	„	them
uimpi,	„	her

The Relative Pronoun.

In Old Irish there was a relative particle used after prepositions, and also a compound relative, but no simple relative in the nominative and accusative cases. The modern relative, in these cases, has arisen from a mistaken idea about certain particles. Before the imperfect, the past, and conditional the particle do should, strictly speaking, be used. Certain irregular but often used verbs had also an unaccented first syllable, as atá, do-ḃeirim, do-ċím, &c. These particles and syllables being unaccented were generally dropped at the beginning, but retained in the body, of a sentence, where the relative naturally occurs. Hence they were erroneously regarded as relative pronouns, from analogy with other languages.

In Modern Irish the relative particle may or may not be used in the nominative and accusative cases.

Although this is the origin of the modern relative nevertheless it is used as a real relative in modern Irish. Whether we call this a a relative particle or a relative pronoun is a mere matter of choice. We prefer the first name.

There is a relative frequently met with in authors, viz.—noċ, meaning who, which or that. This relative is not used in modern spoken Irish, in fact it seems never to have been used in the spoken language.

233. In modern Irish there are three simple relatives, the relative particles A and GO, which signify who, which, or that; and the negative particle NAĊ, signifying who … not, which … not, that … not.

The relative go is not found in literature, but it is so generally used in the spoken dialect of Munster that it must be regarded as a true relative. Go is not used as the subject or object of a verb, its use is confined to the prepositional (dative) case.

There are also the compound relatives pé, gibé, cibé, whoever, whosoever, whatever, and a (causing eclipsis) what, that which, all that.

234. The relative particle A expressed or understood, causes aspiration; but when preceded by a preposition or when it means "all that," it causes eclipsis, as do GO and NAĊ.

An fear a ḃuailim.	The man whom I strike.
An fear a ḃuaileann mé.	The man who strikes me.
An buaċaill naċ mbeiḋ ag obair.	The boy who will not be at work.
An ḃean go ḃfuil an ḃó aici.	The woman who has the cow.
A gcaiṫim san lá.	All that I spend per day.
Sin a raiḃ ann.	That's all that was there.
Do sgairt a raiḃ láiṫreaċ.	All who were present burst out laughing.
An áit ’na ḃfuil sé.	The place in which he is.

235. The relative a when governed by a preposition, or when it means "all that," unites with ro, the particle formerly used before the past tense of regular verbs, and becomes ar. This ar unites with the prepositions do (to) and le (with) and becomes dár and ler.

Ar ċaiṫeas san lá.		All that I spent per day.
An fear dár ġeallas mo leaḃar.   or	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	The man to whom I promised my book.
An fear ar ġeallas mo leaḃar dó.
An tslat ler buaileaḋ é.		The rod with which he was beaten.

236. The pronouns cé and pé unite with ro, but only with the verb is.

Cé ’s ḃ’í féin? Who was she?

Pé ’s ḃ’é féin Whoever he was

237. Whenever the relative follows a superlative, or any phrase of the nature of a superlative, use dá (= de + a). Before the past tense of regular verbs dá becomes dár (= dá + ro)

Ḃéarfad duit gaċ uile níḋ dá ḃfuil agam.

I will give you everything that I have.

Is é sin an fear is aoirde dár ḃuail riaṁ.

That is the tallest man that I have ever met.

Ní maiṫ leis aon níḋ da dtugas dó.

He does not like a single thing I gave him.

Demonstrative Pronouns.

238. The demonstrative pronouns are so or seo, this; sin, sain, soin, san, that; súd or siúd, that (yonder). The secondary forms o or eo, in, and iúd are very common in colloquial usage in Connaught and Munster.

These secondary forms have sometimes been written ṡo, ṡin, etc.

Is fíor sin.	That is true.
’Seaḋ san.	The matter is so.
Tá sé go h‑aindeis agat, tá san.	You have it in a mess, so you have.
B’in í an áit.	That was the place.
Deirim-se gurb iúd é an fear ḋíḃ.	I say that that is the man for you.
B’ in é críoċ an sgéil.	That was the end of the affair.
An in é an bosga?	Is that the box?
Ní h‑oí an áit.	This is not the place,
B’ in é an buaċaill ċuige.	That was the boy for it.

239. When we are referring to a definite object these pronouns take the form é seo, í seo, iad so, é sin, í sin, iad sain, etc. This is especially the case when the English words "this," "that," etc., are equivalent to "this one," "that one," etc.

Tóg é sin.	Lift (or take) that.
’Sé seo an fear.	This is the man.
Dob’ é sin Seaġán.	That was John.
’Sí sin Briġid.	That’s Brigid.
Cé h‑iad so?	Who are these?
An é siúd Tomás?	Is that (person yonder) Thomas?
Ní h‑é, ’sé siúd é, or siúd é é.	No; that’s he.

’Sé seo = is é seo; ’Sé sin = is é sin, etc.

In the spoken language the phrases is é sin é, is é siúd é, etc, are very frequently contracted to sin é, sin í, siúd é, etc.

Siúd é.	That is he.
Siúd é Taḋg.	Yonder is Thade.
Sin é an casúr.	That’s the hammer.

The forms siné, siní, sidé, sidí, are also frequently used.

Sidé atá orm.	That is what ails me.
Siní an áit.	That’s the place.
Sidí annso í.	Here she is here.
Siní í.	That is she (or it).
Sidé é.	This is he (or it.

240. Súd, yonder, qualifies a pronoun; whilst úd qualifies a noun: as, an fear úd, yonder man; a fear súd, yonder woman’s husband.

Indefinite Pronouns.

241. The principal indefinite pronouns are—

cáċ (gen. cáiċ), all, everybody, everyone else.

uile, all.

éinne, éinneaċ (aoin’ne), anybody.

The following are nouns, but they are used to translate English indefinite pronouns, hence we give them here:—

duine ar biṫ, anyone at all.

cuid … cuid eile, some … others

beagán, a few.

An dtáinig éinne annso? Did anyone come here?

“Cia h‑é do ḃáiḋ an macraiḋ?” ar cáċ. “Who is he who drowned the youths?” said all.

Cé ṁéud uḃall agat? (or An ’mó uḃall agat?) Tá beagán agam. How many apples have you? I have a few.

Uile ḋóiḃ. To them all.

Do-ġeiḃmíd uile an bás. We all die.

Do ċuadar so uile seaċa aṁail sgáile. All these went past like a shadow.

Distributive Pronouns.

242. The distributive pronouns are:​—​gaċ, each; gaċ uile, everyone; gaċ aon, each one, everyone; ceaċtar, either. ’Ċuile is a contraction for gaċ uile.

Ní ḟuil ceaċtar aca agaim, I have not either of them.

Bíoḋ a fios ag gaċ aon. Let each one know.

Óir bíonn (bí) fíoċ Dé leis (ris) gaċ h‑aon ċailleas a reaċt. For the anger of God is on each one who violates His law.

N.B.—The tendency in present-day usage is to employ distributive adjectives followed by appropriate nouns rather than distributive pronouns: e.g. Everyone went home. Do ċuaiḋ gaċ uile duine a ḃaile.

Interrogative Pronouns.

243. The chief interrogative pronouns are:​—​cia or cé, who, which; cad, creud, or caidé, what; cé or ceurd (cia rud), what; cia leis, whose; cia aca (cioca), which of them, cé (or cia) agaiḃ, which of you.

Cé rinne é sin?		Who did that?
Cad atá agat?		What have you?
Cad é sin agat?		What is that you have?
Caidé atá ort? Cad tá ort?	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	What ails you?
Cé aca is fearr? Cioca is fearr?	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	Which of them is the better?
Cia an fear?		Which or what man?
Cia na fir?		Which men?
Cia an luaċ?		What price?
Caidé an rud é sin?		What is that?
Cé leis an leaḃar?		Whose is the book?

244. Notice in the last sentence the peculiar position of the words. The interrogative pronoun always comes first in an Irish sentence, even when it is governed by a preposition in English. In Irish we do not say “With whom (is) the book?” but “Who with him (is) the book?”

Further examples of the same construction:—

Cé leis é so?	Whose is this?
Cé aige an leaḃar?	Who has the book?
A Ṡeaġáin, dtiocfaiḋ tú go Gailliṁ? Cad ċuige?	John, will you come to Galway? What for?
Cia leis ḃfuil tú cosṁail?	Whom are you like?
We may also say, Cia ḃfuil tú cosṁail leis?

Notice that the adjective cosṁail, like, takes le, with; not do, to.

245. N.B.—The interrogative pronouns are always nominative case in an Irish sentence. In such a sentence as, Cia ḃuaileadar? Whom did they strike? cia is nominative case to is understood, whilst the suppressed relative is the object of buaileadar. In cia leis, cad ċuige, &c., leis and ċuige are prepositional pronouns, not simple prepositions.

Reciprocal Pronoun.

246. The reciprocal pronoun in Irish is a ċéile,^[7] meaning each other, one another. Ċuir Fionn a láṁa i láṁaiḃ a ċéile, Finn put their hands in the hands of one another. Do sgar Osgar agus Diarmuid le n‑a ċéile. Oscar and Diarmuid separated from each other (lit. “separated with each other”). Ḃuaileadar a ċéile. They struck each other.

Phrases containing the Reciprocal Pronoun.

ó ċéile,^[8] from each other, separated or asunder.

le ċéile,^[9] together.

mar a ċéile, like each other, alike.

trí n‑a ċéile, tré n‑a ċéile

$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$

confused, without any order.

oiread le ċéile, each as much as the other.

i ndiaiḋ a ċéile, one after the other, in succession.

as gaċ fásaċ i n‑a ċéile, out of one desert into another

---

Notes

1. This statement will be explained later on. See par. 589
2. For "indefinite predicate" refer to par. 585
3. daṁ (= dom) is the literary and also the Ulster usage. The emphatic form is doṁsa, never domsa, except in Connaught.
4. Ua is never used as a simple preposition.
5. Uaḋ and uaiḋe (= uaiḋ) are also both literary and spoken forms.
6. The g in these combinations is aspirated in Munster, except in ċuige.
7. Literally, his fellow.
8. ó ċéile, = ó n‑a ċéile.
9. le ċéile, = le n‑a ċéile. This last form is often used and explains the aspiration in le ċéile.