I think that perhaps it would be easier for me to remember the vocab words I learn if I could achieve proper ponunciation(because the spelling would be easier to remember). However, the tapes that come with "Teach Yourself Irish" just throw the page reading the irish words used non-stop and never repeating and the book's explanation is great in my opionin(found a better explanation of what some broad and slender constanants sound like on a site). The book doesn't really explain how vowels modify each other(How does "ae" sound? "oi"? Or is the 'i' in the latter there just to make the following constanant slender?). Vowels are something I really need to work on. It would also be nice to have constantant pairs explained(Is the slender th different than broad?). Perhaps a book with tapes/CD dedicated to pronunciation would be useful. I also have "Learning Irish" but Amazon.com stopped carrying the audio tapes before I purchased it so I don't get to hear those long list of words on those pages(does anyone else notice how confusingly written this book is? Teach Yourself is very well written and for the most part easy to read with great grammar though it's simply hard to remember vocab). Also, on the subject of vocab, is there are website that can provide an excellent explanation of regular Irish verb conjugation(The differences in forms of many is very confusing, I'm very disappointed that no one has written "501 Irish Verbs")?

Go raibh maith agat!

"Teach Yourself Irish" is a good warm-up for "Learning Irish".

I have a question about verbs. Can you get a verb book? Is there any such thing in Gaelic because in French (and I've also saw them in Spanish), you can buy a verb book that classifies all the verbs and shows you how to conjugate them all. I didn't know if you could get them in any other language because I've never saw them but if anyone has any information, I would greatly appreciate it.

PS: I'm not sure if there would even be any because French has all sorts of different kinds of verbs with different endings and so on and so forth...

But if you know anything, that would be helpful.

All kinds of verbs get exactly the same treatment in all the tenses. The only difference is the way in which they are conjugated. Based upon that, there's 4 different classifications of verb:


=============================
4 Classifications of Verb
=============================

1 Syllable:

Dún
Bris
Glan
Fan
Fág
Rith
Snámh


2 Syllables, ending in "igh":

Deisigh
Ceannaigh
Brostaigh
Bailigh
Ceartaigh
Fiafraigh


2 Syllables, ending in "áil":

Pleanáil
Drilleáil
Marcáil
Vótáil


2 Syllables, neither ending in "igh" nor "áil":

Cosain
Eitil
Oscail
Aithin
Taitin


The Past Tense of them all is gotten in the same way, you stick a séimhiú on them. eg.

Dhún sé
Cheartaigh sé
Mharcáil sé
Chosain sé


Where they differ is the way in which they're conjugated. Here's the present tense:

Dúnann sé
Ceartaíonn sé
Marcáileann sé
Cosnaíonn sé

"Dún" and "Marcáil" are conjugated the same way.

"Ceartaigh" and "Cosain" are conjugated the same way.

"Cosain" has been squeezed (these are commonly referred to as concertina verbs). The last consonant and the second last consonant have been pushed together, squeezing out the vowels, then they're given the usual "igh" conjugation, which for the present tense is "íonn".

Another example, Future Tense:

Dúnfaidh sé
Ceartóidh sé
Marcáilfaidh sé
Cosnóidh sé

You see the pattern!


---

Out side of that there's the odd few verbs in the "2 syllable group without "igh" or "áil" " that just simply can't be squeezed. Take:

Foghlaim

How the hell would you run an "l" into an "m"?! Solution: Don't squeeze it!

Foghlaimeoidh mé

Your brain will quickly recognize these!

---

And then outside of that, out of the many 10s of thousands of verbs in Gaeilge, there is but 11 irregulars. Here they are:

Téigh ( go )
Feic ( see )
Clois ( hear )
Tar ( come )
Tabhair ( give )
Abair ( say )
Ith ( eat )
Faigh ( get )
Beir ( grab )
Déan ( do )
Bí ( be )

---

There the verb groups in anyway!

Yes, it is that simple!

Try "Briathar na Gaeilge." I think you'll find what you need there.

Ok, well thank you. I assumed there wasn't any but I wanted to make sure (because if there was, despite the fact that it would defeat the purpose, it would be a lot easier to conjugate verbs).

*By the way, I know it was a while ago since I asked that question but I was doing a search on google and I found this verb conjugation site. I only used to once or twice but it looks pretty good to me.

http://www.verbix.com/languages/irish.shtml

If anyone wanted to check it out, you'd probably have a better opinion on its "usefulness" than I would.

Go to:

http://www.csis.ul.ie/focloir/


Type in the "root" of the verb, eg.:

Dún
Ceannaigh
Oscail
Téigh
Clois
Feic
Faigh
Deisigh


You'll get a verb chart made out of it!

Whoever made that site is a monkey. Gaeilge is the First official language of Ireland.