Need someone to check this. Let me know if it makes sense, or if it needs modification or just total correcting!!

Bíonn gaeilge aige, más Éireannach é!

grma,

James

Bíonn = habitually is

So, bíonn Gaeilge aige = he habitually knows Irish (every week, etc... the rest of the time he doesn’t know Irish)

The right sentence would be "Tá Gaeilge aige, más Éireannach é".

Actually, most Irish people can't speak Irish (besides dia duit, go raibh maith agat and slán).

(Message edited by lughaidh on October 06, 2005)

GRMA, Lughaidh:

I am not the best with conditional, habitual etc. My instinct was to use "Tá" but I let myself "over think" the situation.

I know most Irish people only have the "cupla focal" but this was in response to someone holding up a bunch of other criteria to establish one's "Irish-ness." I simply wanted to "stir the pot" some to see what the response would be!

le meas,

James

Habitual is "I use to do" (present hab.), "I used to do" (past hab.)
Conditional is "I would do (if...)"

quote:

Habitual is "I use to do" (present hab.)

Cela n'existe pas.

Ah sorry... how would you say that in English then? "I am used to do?" "I habitually do" ?

The unmarked present tense is the habitual present: "I eat" as opposed to "I'm eating".

Yeah I know but isn't it possible to emphasize the habitual aspect?

It helps me to look at the habitual as 'I do be' or 'I tend to be'
James, when you use the habitual it's usually with an adverb for intensity.
Bíonn sé ciúin ar dtús - He do be quiet at first
Bíonn sí greannmhar uaireanta - She do be humourous sometimes.

"She do be"

Nach she does be is cirte?

Dobí = Teidí/Béirín (San Eabhrais)

Sam said:

quote:

when you use the habitual it's usually with an adverb for intensity.

I agree (although I'd call it more specifically an adverb of continuousness or repetition). You don't have to actually say the adverb when you use "bíonn", but if wouldn't make sense to have such an adverb in the sentence, you probably don't want to use "bíonn". Mar shampla:

Bíonn sé ciúin ... (He is quiet...)
i gcónaí. (always)
uaireanta. (sometimes)
ó am go ham. (from time to time)
de ghnáth. (as a rule, usually)
chuile lá ag am bricfeasta. (every day at breakfast time)

Lughaidh asked about English:

quote:

isn't it possible to emphasize the habitual aspect?

Only with an adverb, as far as I know:

He eats meat. > He always eats meat.

You could add "does", but that doesn't emphasize the habitual aspect, it just insists on the factualness of the meat-eating:

- I'm not sure if he eats meat.
- He does eat meat.

Lughaidh,

I think you mean to say "I usually do" or "I am usually doing" to express the "present habitual".

You have my respect, my friend. I can't seem to keep this straight in my native language, much less two other languages!!

Go raibh maith agaibh to all.

Yeah I know but isn't it possible to emphasize the habitual aspect?

A Lughaith,

I think the English form is "I usually X."

I usually speak Irish.
I usually eat breakfast.

etc.

"Nach she does be is cirte?"

Cryptic allusion:
"Don't you know that I ate a piece of a goose long ago when it was Christmas?"

"Bíonn Gaeilge aige, más Éireannach é" is grammatically possible in reference to a repeated situation involving a variable, indeterminate third person:

"Nuair a chastar strainséara orm, ní i mBéarla a chuirim forrán air ar chor ar bith. Bíonn Gaeilge aige, más Éireannach é."

quote:

Habitual is "I use to do" (present hab.)

"Cela n'existe pas."

I reckon it yoosta, but it got chucked on account of it didn't work too good.

The following sentences may not make any sense to anyone but I often heard them used while growing up in Dublin.

"He does be working here", meaning " He works here", used with or without an adverb or adverbial phrase".

" I'm used to doing it ", with the meaning of " I do it regularly."

However this last sentence could be misconstrued by standard speakers because it is also synonymous with " I am accustomed to doing it " which could also have a somewhat different connotation.

"And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring" — Numbers 15:39

"Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head" — Esther 6:8

"Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name." — Psalm 119:132

About "habitual present" in Irish...

Here is what i could find in "Irish grammar, a basic handbook" by Noel McDonagle:

ólann : present
tá: present
bíonn: habitual present

2 questions:

1/ Is this in accordance with traditional grammar?
2/ Does someone has any objection to McDonagle's analysis?

quote:

Is this in accordance with traditional grammar?

Yes and no. Ní fhaightear an aimsir ghnáthláithreach agus an aimsir láithreach i gcodarsnacht in aon bhriathar eile. Ach tá brí ghnáthláithreach le "ólaim" san abairt "ólaim fíon" (vs. "tá mé ag ól fíona anois"), mar shampla. Agus tá brí láithreach le "feicim" san abairt "feicim anois é".

Siocair nach n-abartar "tá mé ag feiceáil"... Leis na briathra "perception", níl foirm láithreach ar bith, an chuid is mó don am.

quote:

Siocair nach n-abartar "tá mé ag feiceáil"

Ní deirtear de ghnáth é, ach is féidir feidhm a bhaint as, mar a rinne Cathal Ó Searcaigh sa dán "Anseo ag Staisiun Chaiseal Na gCorr":

Anseo ag stáisiún Chaiseal na gCorr
d’aimsigh mise m’oileán rúin
mo thearmann is mo shanctóir.
Anseo braithim i dtiúin
le mo chinniúint féin is mo thimpeallacht.
Anseo braithim seasmhacht
is mé ag feiceáil chríocha mo chineáil
thart faoi bhun an Eargail
mar a bhfuil siad ina gcónaí go ciúin
le breis agus trí chéad bliain
ar mhínte féaraigh an tsléibhe
ó Mhín ‘a Leá go Mín na Craoibhe.
[...]

Anseo baintear feidhm as le ráidht go dtarlann dhá rud ag an am chéanna: cás ar leith atá ann. Chuala mé sin in amhráin fosta, ach is fíorannamh é. Ní dóigh liom gur féidir a leithéid do rud a ráidht i dteangthacha eile ach an oiread: I am seeing, I am hearing, je suis en train d’entendre...

"I was doubtful at first, but now I'm seeing it your way."
"I must be hearing things!" (.i. rudaí nach bhfuil ann)
Seo rudaí a déarfainn as Béarla gan leisce ar bith.

To the question:
"Does someone has any objection to McDonagle's analysis?",
that I asked some time earlier, I see no one answered, so I assume there is no objection at all.

Yet there should be...

This analysis confuses semantics and syntax.

Semantically, we can find both "present" and "habitual present" in Irish, and much more...
Syntactically, there is only one present (you may call it whaterver you want) that takes the form -(e)ann / -(a)íonn. This means that "ólann" and "bíonn" contain the present... "tá" contains in fact no syntactic tense at all.