(2) After the relative particle a, when it is preceded by a preposition, after the relative a when it means “what,” “all that,” “all which,” and after the negative relative naċ, who … not, which … not. Cá ḃ‑fuil sé? Where is it? Ní ḟuil a ḟios agam. I don’t know. Tá ḟios agam ná fuil sé ann. I know it is not there. Deir sé go ḃfuil sé slán. He says that he is well. Sin é an fear naċ ḃfuil ag obair. That is the man who is not working. Duḃairt sé liom naċ raiḃ sé ann. He told me he was not there.
332. We sometimes find the verb fuil eclipsed after the negative ní, not; as, ní ḃfuil sé he is not
For the use of the Relative Form refer to pars. 554–560.
THE ASSERTIVE VERB IS.
333. The position of a verb in an Irish sentence is at the very beginning; hence, when a word other than the verb is to be brought into prominence, the important word is to be placed in the most prominent position viz., at the beginning of the sentence, under cover of an unemphatic impersonal verb. There is no stress on the verb so used; it merely denotes that prominence is given to some idea in the sentence other than that contained in the verb. There is a similar expedient adopted in English: thus, “He was speaking of you,” and, “It
