Can somebody please explain the difference between "Bíonn" and "Tá"? Thank you!

And now my horrifying translation:

Cad bhfuil an dhifríocht idir "Bíonn" agus "Tá"?

tá an aimsir láithreach, bíonn an gnáthchaite

quote:

Cad bhfuil an dhifríocht idir "Bíonn" agus "Tá"?

Maith thú, a Dhomhnail! Tuigim do cheist.

1) Tá sé anseo anois. = He's here now.

2) Bíonn sé anseo i gcónaí. = He's always here.

In sentence (1) you could change "anois" to "inniu" or to "faoi láthair", all refering to a single "now" in time.

In sentence (2) you can change "i gcónaí" to "go minic" (often) or to "de ghnáth" (usually) or any other adverb that expresses an on-going or repeated (or continuous or habitual) circumstance.

One of the easiest ways to know whether to use "bíonn" is to ask yourself whether there is such an adverb in your sentence, or whether you could add one without changing your meaning.

Oh, and here's how I'd ask your question:

Cad é an difríocht idir "bíonn" agus "tá"?

A Dhomhnaill,

I find this trick very useful - check if you can make sense out of it. As you know English has expression "used to ..." like in "I used to go to this place", "He used to buy such shoes" - all meaning that you have done something repeatedly in the past. Now let's invent a little bit - imagine you can say the same in present tense: "I use to buy this newspaper", "He uses to watch movies". Sounds ungrammatical, but if you remember what "used to ..." means - this invented "use(s) to.." is quite intuitive and understandable.

So Irish "bíonn" is exactle this "uses to be".

Bíonn sé ann. He uses to be there.
Tá sé ann. - He is there (now).

Actually "bíonn" is just a special form for verb "tá", all other verbs are used exactly same fashion.

Gearran sé arán agus cuireann sé im air. He uses to cut bread and to put butter on it.

I will suggest something similar.


Bíonn is very well translated by 'does be' or 'do be' 'Bionn ma a' fólam', I do be a' learning.

The gem of HibernoEnglish is the use of do, and I think Americans can be helped by learnign of this (if they're going to lear irish).

I does be; I do; I usent to be

It can lead to thing like: "I do (do) be doing that"

Grmh, a chach! Ní aimsím "gnáthchaite" san foclóir ach glacaim leis ciallaíonn sé "progressive" or something like that.

past habitual, i.e. something which happened over a period of time.

agus rinne mé botún! Gnáthláithreach atá i Bíonn...

I know you're on the other side of the world Domhnall but in the Irish version of English people say ;

"He does be in at about 10"
"It does be cold these evenings"

This "does be" is a DIRECT translation from Gaeilge.
That's how i learned it, don't know what use it'd be to you!

Domhnall

I know Welsh people get made fun of because they say things like "I do do be doing that every day," etc. Sounds like a Celtic languages thing.

Do-be-do-be-doooo...

Anyway, tá mé buíoch daoibh! Tá forás an-deacair.

A Dhomnhaill: how many Irish people still say "does be"? Can you give any more examples of Hiberrno-English and its connection to Irish? I know Irish people say "bold" when they mean "naughty". I remember an Irish man in my halls of residence at university would say "what are you after doing?" which sounds like "what do you want to do?" but means "what have you just been doing?"

Tugann ma píosa gáire gach am a chloiseann ma 'naughty' -a' bhfuil ta i bParty Thoraí/Thoraidhe? Whip Whip !

It is not a very common thing to say "does be" but it is indeed still heard in various parts of the country along with other Irish phrases in English - Another example;

In Ulster people would say ;

"Two chip" i.e. "Two portions of fries(i say fries for all you americans!)"
Because in Irish you'd say "Dhá sceallóg" as opposed to "Dhá sceallóga"....

Yes your example too kieran would be heard in ireland commonly in Ireland, i myself use it..
"I'm after turnin' off the bloody computer"

English rubs off in Irish as Irish rubs off in English..

I don't know if ^^ makes sense!

Cúpla sampla ón Béarla na hÉireann:

He does be doing the auld guitar

He does be doing that

He does be doing it