A chairde,

Cé acu ceann is ceart?:

(A) Tá áthas orm cloisteáil go ndeachaigh sí go dtí an siopa.
nó
(B) Tá áthas orm go ndeachaigh sí go dtí an síopa a chloisteáil.

Christine.

The first one.

Don't put the verbal noun at the end of the sentence if it's too far away.

Always put it before "gur", "nár", "go", "nach"...

Bhí athás aimsiú nár maríodh é.

Shouldn't you use the particle 'a' before the verbal noun there too, e.g. a chloisteáil, because it's followed by a clause which is syntactically a complete sentence on its own - ...."(go n)deachaigh sí go dtí an siopa"?

I don't think so, unless you're speaking a Connamara dialect, in which case you'd use the "a" before "dul", "teacht", or "bheith".

I saw that in Ch.14 of Learning Irish. However, later, in Ch.22 "3.Use of A+Lenition Before Certain Verbal Nouns.

Bhí Cáit ag iarraidh {a fháil amach to find out}
Cáit was trying {a dhéanamh amach to make out}
{a shamhlú to imagine}
{a fhiafraí to ask}
{a thiscint to understand}

cé a bhí ann aréir.
who was there last night.

The particle 'a', which causes lenition, is used before verbs when they are followed by a sentence, or subordinate clause, which is syntactically complete in itself, e.g. cé a bhí ann aréir? Who was there last night?; go bhfuil Bríd tinn 'that Bríd is sick."

(Message edited by Maidhc_Ó_G. on March 09, 2006)

I don't think so, unless you're speaking a Connamara dialect, in which case you'd use the "a" before "dul", "teacht", or "bheith".

This rule exists in Ulster as well: a ghabháil, a theacht, a bheith.

Maidhc,

You're absolutely right. It must be something like:

Tá áthas orm a chloisteáil go ndeachaigh sí go dtí an siopa.

For it to be syntactically equivalent to:

Tá áthas orm é a chloisteáil.