Morphology
Irish verbs are characterized by having a mixture of analytic forms (where information about person is provided by a pronoun) and synthetic forms (where information about number is provided in an ending on the verb) in their conjugation. In Munster synthetic forms are more often used than in the standard language, where analytic forms (those with a general ending + personal pronoun) are more common.
| Munster | Standard | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ||
| molaim | molaim | "I (sg.) praise" |
| molair | molann tú | "you (sg.) praise" |
| molann sé | molann sé | "he praises" |
| molaimíd | molaimid | "we praise" |
| molann sibh | molann sibh | "you (pl.) praise" |
| molaid (siad) | molann siad | "they praise" |
| Past | ||
| mholas | mhol mé | "I praised" |
| mholais | mhol tú | "you (sg.) praised" |
| mhol sé | mhol sé | "he praised" |
| mholamair | mholamar | "we praised" |
| mholabhair | mhol sibh | "you (pl.) praised" |
| mholadar | mhol siad | "they praised" |
| Future | ||
| molfad | molfaidh mé | "I will praise" |
| molfair | molfaidh tú | "you (sg.) will praise" |
| molfaidh sé | molfaidh sé | "he will praise" |
| molfaimíd | molfaimid | "we will praise" |
| molfaidh sibh | molfaidh sibh | "you (pl.) will praise" |
| molfaid (siad) | molfaidh siad | "they will praise" |
Some irregular verbs have different forms in Munster than in the standard (see Dependent and independent verb forms for the independent/dependent distinction):
| Munster independent | Munster dependent | Standard independent | Standard dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| chím | ní fheicim | feicim | ní fheicim | "I see, I do not see" |
| (do) chonac | ní fheaca | chonaic mé | ní fhaca mé | "I saw, I did not see" |
| deinim | ní dheinim | déanaim | ní dhéanaim | "I do, I do not" |
| (do) dheineas | níor dheineas | rinne mé | ní dhearna mé | "I did, I did not" |
| (do) chuas | ní dheaghas/níor chuas | chuaigh mé | ní dheachaigh mé | "I went, I did not go" |
| gheibhim | ní bhfaighim | faighim | ní fhaighim | "I get, I do not get" |
Past tense verbs can take the particle do in Munster Irish, even when they begin with consonants. In the standard language, the particle is used only before vowels. For example, Munster do bhris sé or bhris sé "he broke" (standard only bhris sé).
The initial mutations of Munster Irish are generally the same as in the standard language and the other dialects. Some Munster speakers, however, use /ɾʲ/ as the lenition equivalent of /ɾˠ/ in at least some cases, as in a rí /ə ɾʲiː/ "O king!" (Sjoestedt 1931:46), do rug /d̪ˠə ɾʲʊɡ/ "gave birth" (Ó Cuív 1944:122), ní raghaid /nʲiː ɾʲəidʲ/ "they will not go" (Breatnach 1947:143).
Read more about this topic: Munster Irish
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