Our object is to display some of the elementary grammar of this wonderful language in the context of commonly used sentences.  It does NOT presently have a large vocabulary.  The following are the sentence patterns that are implemented though not completely.  Items listed in red are the ones that are not realized yet.   Anyone who wishes to help me out, get in touch!

 

Sentence components: 

 

A.    Nounphrase

 

1.  English to Irish

 

{Det, Poss, Dem}          Number              Adjectives             Noun                      Postnouns

 

{the, my, this} two  big red  cats  {that ate my dog, that i saw, whose child ate the dog, with which i walked, in the hat}

 

Irish to English:

 

{Det, Poss }           Noun                Adjectives            {Dem}           Postnouns

 

mo chat mór , an cat mór sín  (my big cat, this big cat)

 

The nominative and genitive are realized.  Nominative is used for subject or direct object of sentence, genitive for direct object of verbal noun and object of compound prepositions as well as possessive.

 

 

2.   Pronoun

 

{i, you, he/she/it, we, yall, they}

 

Postnouns can be prepositional (adjectival) phrases or relative clauses.

 

 

B.    Verbphrase

 

1.    Aux    Verbphrase2

 

Aux = “did”, “do/does”, “will”, “have”, “would”, “am/is/are”, “was”

 

 

(Verbphrase2 =       Verb            Nounphrase            Nounphrase            Adverbs)

(Give  the cat a mouse)

 

 

 

Note:  Verb tense/aspect ending must match the auxiliary

       will         eat

       has        eaten    

       is           eating

 

2.   Verbphrase

       ate the cat

       eats a dog

 

Tenses/aspects accepted :  present, past, progressive, past progressive, perfect, future, conditional, past habitual (this last English to Irish only, and I have already spotted some errors.)

 

 

Adverbs are often phrases, prepositional or other, and can express place (at, to, from), time, degree, manner, instrument, accompaniment, reason, etc.  (in the house, until the night, a lot, slowly, with a fork, with John)….  In the English to Irish, only the location at or to have been realized.  

 

 

Sentence patterns

 

I.   Nounphrase           Verbphrase   - simple declarative sentence

 

the cat chases the dog

 

 

2.  Aux           Nounphrase            {not}           Verb                Nounphrase              Nounphrase

 - yes/no interrogative sentence

 

did the cat eat the dog

 

The sentences with question words use relative clauses, and since we have just recently been working on relative clauses, these question sentences are not realized.

3.   Question word            Aux            Nounphrase         Verbphrase2

 – informational question

 

why did the cat eat the dog

 

4.   Verb           Nounphrase           Nounphrase  - imperative sentence

 

eat the dog  –  ith an madra

 

5.   {who(m), what} Aux Nounphrase Verbphrase2  - asks to identify the object of an action

 

who did you see?

 

6.   {who, what} Verbphrase – asks to identify the subject of an action

 

who ate my cat

what happened

 

7.    Nounphrase Copula Nounphrase

 he is a teacher               is múinteoir é

he is a good teacher       is maith an múinteoir é

he is the teacher            is seisean an múinteoir

 

8.   Nounphrase Copula Adjective

he is big          tá sé mór

 

9.    Nounphrase Copula Location phrase

he is in the kitchen

 

10- Complex sentences      Sentence   Clausemarker    Sentence

he sang as he ate         chan sé agus é ag ithe

 

11.   Some English sentences contain adverbial clauses of manner.  The meaning of these sentences is more or less Sentence Clausemarker Sentence. 

 

 while eating, he sang     OR     he sang while eating     .   chan sé agus é ag ithe

 he sang as he ate                         chan sé agus é ag ithe

 he left without eating                 d'fhág sé gan ithe
 he left without seeing her           d'fhág sé gan í a fheiceáil
 he left without seeing the cat     d'fhág sé gan an cat a fheiceáil
 he left without seeing a cat         d'fhág sé gan chat a fheiceáil
 he left without seeing a red cat    d'fhág sé gan cat dearg a fheiceáil
(compare:  he spoke without permission       labhair sé gan chead)

 

Many English sentences must be reassembled before the correct Irish sentence can be formatted.  For instance, in order to process  “i have a cat”, which is subject verb object,

we have to reanalyze it as “the cat is at me”.   Similarly, “i have eaten the cat” changes internally to “the cat is eaten at me”.  

 

i have a cat                      tá cat agam  

i have eaten the cat        tá an cat ite agam

 

Again, sentences such as “i am hungry”  turn around into “there is hunger on me”.

 

i am hungry    tá ocras orm

i am sleepy    tá codladh orm

 

MOST of these sentences are not realized yet.  Be aware that just because you get an answer for a sentence, it does NOT mean it is the usual way to say something.  J

 

Sources: 

 

 

Focloír Gaeilge-Béarla, Niall Ó Dónaill, An Gúm, Dublin

English-Irish Dictionary, ed. Tomás De Bhaldraithe, An Gúm, Dublin

Teach Yourself Irish Grammar, Éamonn Ó Dónaill

 

Some helpful websites:

An Foclóir Beag, www.csis.ul.ie-focloir   all the verb conjugations one could ever want

Wikipedia Irish Syntax page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_syntax      many helpful examples and explanations

Irish Gaelic Lesson Board  http://www.erinsweb.com/gae_index.html        many helpful examples and explanations

 

I would especially like to thank Kevin Scannell http://borel.slu.edu/nlp.html for hours of correspondence, grammar pointers, review of this website, and encouragement.