Bheifeá ansin. You would be there

ach...

An mbeifeá ansin? Would you be there?

Ceist:

Why not An mbheifeá ansin? In other words, why does the h drop out of mbheifeá?

Perhaps this is just a rule I need to memorize but I wanted to ask it outright because, as usual, it's just offered up here in the textbook without a word of explanation. Thanks!

why would the h be there? -be gone!

Hi a Dhomhnaill,
Bheifeá probably once had a particle before it as with Bhí .. do bhí.
Simply, it's one or the other, lenition or eclipse..

The unmutated original form is "beifeá".
You can still find it in:
ná beifeá ansan = that thou wouldst not be there.
(That's Munster dialect for Standard: nach mbeifeá ansin.)

In most circumstances "beifeá" is always mutated (eclipsed or lenited) due to particles before it:
(Do) bheifeá ansin. = Thou wouldst be there.
An mbeifeá ansin? = Wouldst thou be there?

Lars

(Message edited by Lars on August 04, 2008)

Thanks, that explains it. I was unsure whether the initial bh was a lenition or the natural initial vowel sound of that verb.

I keep forgetting about that phantom particle, "do." I'll keep it more firmly in mind now.

quote:

I was unsure whether the initial bh was a lenition or the natural initial vowel sound of that verb.

bh- is never the natural initial of any native Irish word (except "bhur").
It is always the result of lenition of b-.

Lars