Verbs
There are 2 conjugations, and also 11 irregular verbs (briathra neamhrialta). Tenses or moods are formed by inflecting the stem, and in the past and habitual past tenses and the conditional mood also by leniting any initial consonant. The inflected tense and mood forms are: present indicative; present habitual indicative (differs from present only in the verb bí "to be"); future indicative; past indicative; past habitual indicative; conditional; imperative; present subjunctive; past subjunctive. Verbs also have a verbal noun and verbal adjective, and continuous constructions similar to those using the English present participle may be formed from the verbal noun and an appropriate tense of bí. Examples of tense conjugations: (all third person forms without subject pronoun):
- 1st conjugation - Fág - D'fhág (past) - Fágann (present) - Fágfaidh (future) - D'fhágfadh (conditional) - D'fhágadh (habitual past) - Fága (subjunctive) - Fágadh (imperative)
- 2nd conjugation - Ceannaigh - Ceannaigh (past) - Ceannaíonn (present) - Ceannóidh (future) - Cheannódh (conditional) - Cheannaíodh (habitual past) - Ceannaí (subjunctive) - Ceannaíodh (imperative)
- Irregular - Téigh - Chuaigh (past) - Téann (present) - Rachaidh (future) - Rachadh (conditional) - Théadh (habitual past) - Té (subjunctive) - Téadh (imperative)
There is no passive proper in Irish, but there is an impersonal form of the verb, termed the saorbhriathar or "free verb".
Verbs can be conjugated either synthetically (with the personal pronoun included in the verb inflection) or analytically (with the verb inflected for tense only and a separate subject). However, the official standard generally prescribes the analytical form in most person tense combinations, and the synthetic in some cases. The analytical forms are also generally preferred in the western and northern dialects, except in answer to what would in English be "yes/no" questions. For example, the following are the standard form, synthetic form and analytical form of the past tense of rith "to run":
| Person | Standard | Synthetic | Analytic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | rith mé | ritheas | rith mé |
| 2nd sing | rith tú | rithis | rith tú |
| 3rd sing | rith sé | rith | rith sé |
| 1st plural | ritheamar | ritheamar | rith sinn / rith muid* |
| 2nd plural | rith sibh | ritheamhar | rith sibh |
| 3rd plural | rith siad | ritheadar | rith siad |
| Impersonal | ritheadh | ritheadh | ritheadh |
- muid is non-standard but is the usual 1st person plural pronoun in the western and northern dialects.
Read more about this topic: Irish Grammar
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