In our class today we talked about 'going to' The phrase was téim chun na scoile ( I go to school)

Chun though doesn't make sense to me. I know that you use go or go dtí for motion and chuig when it is an appointment. But why chun?

We thought that na scoile being genitive, the idea was that because it not being the school but rather school in general we should use chun. But to be perfectly honest it is only a wild guess.

Can someone help us out?

Ok, I'll explain you how it works in Ulster Irish; it is different in the other dialects.

In Ulster, you use "chun" when the noun is a place, and is preceded by the article (an or na).

You use "chuig" (pronounced "chuige" in Ulster) when the noun is an event or a person.

You use "go dtí" only when you go as far as a place, and no further.

You use "go" when the noun is a place and is not preceded by the article.

So:

Téim chun an tí, chun na háite sin, chun an Bhuna Bhig, chun na dtithe tábhairne, etc (places with the article).

Téim chuig comórtas, chuig an choirm cheoil, téim chuig mo chara (events and people).

Téim go dtí an abhainn. When you say "téim go dtí an scoil" in Ulster it means that you go till you are in front of the door of the school, and then you stop there.

Téim go Toraigh, go Baile Átha Cliath, go teach mo chara (places, without any article before them).


Now, in other dialects, "go dtí" doesn't mean "until... and no further", but just "to", so they often use "go dtí" instead of "chun".


Hope it's clear.

Oh that is brilliant! Thanks so much. The phrase came from Now You're Talking so it was the Ulster Irish I was after.

Just one more question then. Na scoile is genitive. Does that mean that chun is always followed by genitive or is it as we thought: school is meant in a general way and therefor genitive?

What's a genitive?

Well it is a grammar thing meaning of the (or at least that is how I translate it)

Oh that is brilliant! Thanks so much. The phrase came from Now You're Talking so it was the Ulster Irish I was after.

Ok. Although Now You're talking is in Ulster Irish, there are plenty of Standard Irish stuff in it, so Ulster people don't exactly speak like that. I suppose that the people who wrote NYT wanted to find a halfway between Ulster Irish and Standard (ie. school) Irish.
For example, I think "go dtí" is found much more in the book than in Donegal people's speech (I almost never heard it in Donegal, except when telling time: ceathrú go dtí a dó = 1.45).

Just one more question then. Na scoile is genitive. Does that mean that chun is always followed by genitive or is it as we thought: school is meant in a general way and therefor genitive?

No, "chun" is always followed by the genitive case when it means "to (a place)".

You say "chun na scoile", "chun an tí", "chun an bhaile mhóir", etc.

In speech, "chun" is just pronounced as an "n": chun na scoile is said as "na scoile", chun an tí as "na toí", chun an bhaile mhóir as "na bhaile mhóir", etc.