I am in the process of learning the basics of the future, conditional, and imperfect tenses for 1st conjugation verbs, and am a bit confused about pronunciation because of conflicting information from the Dillon & OCroinin text, the OSe & Sheils text and tapes, and OSiadhail text and tapes.
(1) Is the f in the future and conditional tenses (e.g., dunfaigh) either silent or pronounced as an h? (I find it hard to pronounce it as an h, and so I can imagine it becoming silent.)
(2) If the f is silent in the conditional tense, does the conditional and the imperfect tenses sound the same for many of the forms (e.g., dhunfagh versus dhunagh?). If so, in speech does one have to know by context which tense it is?

Go raith maith agaibh,

Dennis

Dennis,

I'm not sure I follow your question completely, but if I understand the source, it has to do with (1)whether F should be pronounced as H and (2) whether the H should become silent.

My inclination is to keep the F and avoid the controversy.

However, and this may be the source of the conflict, I have heard F pronounced as H on BBC Northern Ireland, which would probably be the Ulster dialect.

One clear example that comes to mind is the phrase "agus tú féin?" which they pronounce "agus tú (h)aon.

Pádraig

"Féin" is pronounced with a "h" in Connemara too, you can hear it on RnaG all the time.