I'm having a bit of trouble with some of these exercises. It has been stated elsewhere that Ó Siadhal has been know to have a few typo's and I suspect this is the case in a few of my "confusions." In others, I am sorry to say the problem is most assuredly to be found deep in my brain housing group. Any help from the more seasoned would be most appreciated.

aistríu bearla/gaeilge:

Uimhir 8-- I said "Tá cóta go deas ag Máire agus gúna go hiontach." Ó Siadhal says, " deas" and "iontach" I thought both of those required the particle "go" and the vowels would be prefixed accordingly with the "h". (At least that's what was stated in the previous chapter.) He seems to have ignored this.

Uimhir 9--An riabh mórán daoine ann? An rabhadh sásta leis an áit?

I said "le an áit" can anyone explain leis versus le for me?

Uimhir 11 agus 13-- In #13 "daoine" = "people" but in #11 "duine" = "people". I supsect a typo but want to be certain that I'm not missing one of those subtle points. I also used "muintir" rather than "daoine"--is this acceptable?

Uimhir 14-- "Bhí athair agus máthair Pheige réasúnta sásta leis an bpeictiúr." This is more of the Le versus Leis connundrum but the issue of an urú arises. I said "Le an..." and he uses "leis". Also, does "leis" demand an urú as is suggested in Ó Siadhal's answer key?

Uimhir 15-- I notice that Ó Siadhal precedes
"éadaí" with "go leor". I thought that it would come afterwards. This is one of the unique aspects of its usage as bearla in that is retains the same grammatical syntax in both languages. Apparently, I've missed something. (He does it again in another portion of this same chapter)

Any help would be most appreciated.

Le meas,

James

Well, I'll give it my best shot. As always, I welcome corrections from Those Who Know:-)

8) According to Ó Siadhail, deas and iontach are preceded by "go" *when they're used as predicates* (see lesson 4.3). So
Tá an cóta go deas. The coat is nice.
but
Tá cóta deas ag Máire. Mary has a nice coat.

In the first, "deas" is the predicate adjective that describes the coat. In the second, it's just what kind of coat Mary has.

11 & 13) It's singular in 11 because "cupla" takes the singular. As far as I know, "muintir" implies that these are people to whom you are *related* in some way.

14) "Leis" is the form of "le" always used with the article. All (or almost all?) prepositions demand an urú when used with the article.

15) "Go leor éadaí" and "éadaí go leor" are both correct. "Go leor" can come either before or after the noun.

Hope this helps!

--Al Evans

Go raibh maith agat. Seems you can count yourself as one of the "TWK" (Those who know) crowd!!!

Predicate and predicate adjective are terms I do not know. Can you clarify/define for me? I understand the adjective part (It hasn't been that long and I'm not that old) but predicate is escaping me.

Le meas,

James

Duirt Séamas, "Predicate and predicate adjective are terms I do not know. Can you clarify/define for me?"

Boy, you really want me to skate out on that thin ice, don't you? :-)

I'll take a chance on my memory of grammar, and say that the "predicate" of a sentence is "the part of the sentence that's not the subject". A predicate adjective is an adjective that is related to the subject by a verb of being.

--Al Evans