I was wondering, can anyone explain to me about the present tense in Irish on how to do it? I'm quite stuck here.

Present Conjugation:

-aim
-ann tú
-ann sé
-ann sí
-aimid
-ann sibh
-ann siad

Present Conjugation:

-im
-eann tú
-eann sé
-eann sí
-imid
-eann sibh
-eann siad

How do I know how to use ''eann'' instead of ''ann''?

Can anyone explain to me please?

First, there is no present tense in Irish. There is the habitual tense. This is not mere semantics as to say what is happening now requires a different structure than the above.

What you have above is a difference in spelling when the final vowel or consonant is broad or slender:

ex:

beir =catch

beireann =catches

Notice that the r is flanked by front vowels (i, e)

déan =do/make

déanann =makes

Notice the n is flanked by back vowels (a, o, u)

Yes, there is a "present tense" in Irish, at least in the sense most people (non-linguists) mean "present tense" - and it's exactly what you're thinking it is. Basically, the point Bearn's making is that ritheann sé corresponds to English "he runs" but not to "he is running."

There are basically two conjugations (classes of verb endings) in Irish.


Verbs of the first conjugation: These are mostly one-syllable verbs, like déan, bris, ith, ól. The basic present tense ending for these is -(e)ann, i.e. -ann if the end of the verb stem is broad, -eann if it's slender:
déanann, briseann, itheann, ólann


Verbs of the second conjugation: These are most of your polysyllabic verbs, like maraigh, smaoinigh. Take the -(a)igh off, and then the present tense ending is -(a)íonn:
maraíonn, smaoiníonn


(And then there are special verb endings for certain pronouns - but it looks like you already know about that.)

Have you run across "broad" and "slender" yet? It just occurred to me that you may not have, if you're just now starting out.

Anyway, if you need those explained just ask! ;-)

Yes please Abigail.

The broad vowels are a,o and u. The slender vowels are e and i. When the last vowel in the root of the verb is slender, the verb is said to be slender. It's the same for broad. For broad verbs, you use the -aim, -ann, etc. endings, and for the slender verbs, you use the -im, -eann, etc. endings. This is so that broad verbs have broad endings, and slender verbs have slender endings. Hence the saying: caol le caol, leathan le leathan. For example:

Dún - last vowel is u, so Dún is broad.
Bris - last vowel is i, so Bris is slender.

So, the present tense of the above verbs would be:

Dúnann - closes
Briseann - breaks.

Does that make it any easier?


Cathal

Broad and slender is a catch all for a) two types of realizations (tongue positions) b) potential grammatical distinctions using those realizations in contrast c) orthographic coding founded with the first 2 in mind

You can choose the use the final level by memorizing the rules of i,e,ae (front) and o, u, ao (back) flanking of consonants

(Message edited by bearn on September 01, 2007)

Don't mind me, I mean agree with Cathal -just think of consonants with a, u, o around them as 'broad' and i and e as 'slender' meaning dún is like as if it is 'udúnú' and bris as 'ibrisi' so you just modify the spelling to keep the logic of the spelling rules intact, thats all it is, a sort of set of rules

I understand this now.

Bearn, Abigail, Cathal thank you very much for your help!

(Message edited by teanga on September 01, 2007)

Bearn - "ae" is NOT slender - it is broad. So if a slender consonant follows - you inseart "i" - like in Gaeilge. Btw, in Irish 'e' although technically slender is always accompanied by 'i' in front of slender consonat. Spellings like 'eC' are impossible.

Sorry, i meant the digraph 'ae' and that sound is a front vowel. Apologies!

Sorry, I meant 'ea'. You can see why it slipped thru the net above

ae is an area of the coding for the orthography that does not work as well as the rest, for a variety of reasons like historical changes in the language

(Message edited by bearn on September 02, 2007)

I understand this now, thank you very much to all of you!