Comment by messe | Hacker News Reader

Comment by messe | Hacker News Reader

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There is a word that negates a sentence/clause, just not a word for no. You're correct that we repeat the verb (tá is the independent form when no particle precedes it, fuil is the dependent form, which here has an initial mutation adding bh to its beginning). "Have you got your ticket?":

    - An              bhfuil do    thicéad agat?    (LIT: is your ticket at-you?)
    - (interrogative) is     your  ticket  at-you?

    - Tá mo thicéad agam.
    - is my ticket  at-me.

In the negative, we'd use the particle Ní and the form fhuil: Ní-fhuil (lit: Not-is) which is nowadays written and pronounced as Níl:

    - Níl      mo thicéad agam.
    - Ní-fhuil
    -  not-is  my ticket at-me.

Another example using a more regular verb: "do you sing?"

   - An              gcanann tú?
   - (interrogative) sing    you?

   - Canann mé  /  Canaim
   - sing   I   /  sing-1st.pres

   - Ní  chanann mé   / Ní  chanaim
   - not sing    I    / not sing-1st.pres

Note that there are two forms an analytic and a synthetic form that incorporates the pronoun into the verb that can be used depending on dialect and speaker. I've included both above.

EDIT: Unfortunately, code blocks are necessary for alignment, so I've added '-' to the beginning of each line to aid in legibility on mobile.

Apart from Donegal, you won't really find the analytic first person singular present anywhere outside of the verbs tá and bíonn. Even in Donegal, the synthetic is best.

Also, you don't have to repeat the pronoun (unless it is one with the analytic form).

An gcanann sé? Canann.

> Apart from Donegal, you won't really find the analytic first person singular anywhere outside of the verbs tá and bíonn

Have you mixed up analytic and synthetic? Analytic = Canann mé, Synthetic = canaim. Ulster irish generally tends toward analytic (similar to Scottish Gaelic actually), and Munster tends toward the Synthetic.

> Also, you don't have to repeat the pronoun (unless it is one with the analytic form).

True, but I didn't want to complicate it any further than it already was.

No, the synthetic first person singular present tense is still more prevalent, even in Donegal. Overall, yes, Donegal (the only living Ulster dialects, as I'm sure you're aware) tends towards analytic, but they're not that common in some tenses. An Teanga Bheo: Gaeilge Uladh (horrible name, East Ulster was very different from Donegal!) mentions that you can say canann mé but that canaim is still preferred. Same with a few of the persons in the conditional mood.

Ah yeah, that makes sense. I glossed over "first person singular" in the part I quoted.

> Canann

Interesting; same root as Italian 'cantare'.

Yep! They both come from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) keh₂n-.

As a matter of fact, the Italic and Celtic branches of PIE are posited to be closer than to each other than other Indo-European branches and are often grouped together as Italo-Celtic.

You should know that your code blocks are complete gibberish on mobile browsers.

Apologies. I'm aware of the issues with code blocks on mobile, and I myself even call people out who used them instead of quotes. Here though, I used text alignment to aid in showing which words in Irish correspond to their translation in English, so a monospaced font was necessary as HN doesn't provide any other means of alignment.

EDIT: I viewed my comment on mobile, and I don't think it's completely gibberish as the commenter suggested. I use a relatively small phone (an iPhone SE 2020), and found it readable. That said, I've added '-' to the beginning of each line to aid in legibility for anybody experiencing issues.

Thanks, most informative.

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