Hope the holiday season finds you all well. I know you can help me. I've been creeping through "Teach Youself Irish Grammar", by Eamon O Donall. I'm in the section on future verbs. The second conjugation, verbs with more than one syllable in their root, ending in -(a)igh. The verb "Tosaigh" is listed under broad consonant. I thought a broad consant meant it had to have a broad vowel next to it. In this example, is the broad consonant the "s"? Another examble is "cosain". Is the broad consonant also "s"? Thanks much, John

In this example, is the broad consonant the "s"?

Yes. The contrast is with second conjugation verbs like foilsigh. When endings are added, the gh disappears (e.g. thosnaíos "I started", fhoilsíos "I published", etc.), so it's not really considered a stem consonant.

Another examble is "cosain". Is the broad consonant also "s"?

Actually, it's the -n. There are a number of verbs like this which have stems ending in broad consonants, but when they appear with a zero-ending (in the second-person singular imperative, which is often used as a citation form), the final consonant is slenderised.

That is to say, the stem of cosain is cosn- (e.g. cosnaim "I defend", chosnaíos "I defended", cosnód "I shall defend", etc.). Normally, the second-person singular imperative would be the bare stem, but *cosn isn't an acceptable word in Irish. A shwa is added to break up the final cluster and make it pronounceable, and after this happens the final consonant is slenderised, i.e. cosain.

quote:

fhoilsíos "I published"

I think that's a typo for:

D'fhoilsíos

Ní botún cló atá ann; is ea go toiliúil d'fhágas ar lár í toisc nár fhéadas cé acu a bhaineann an leagan le "d" leis an gCaighdeán Oifigiúil nó nach.

Deirfí "d'fhoilsíos" i gcuid do Chúigeadh Mhumhan, "dh'fhoilsíos" i gcuid eile, agus "d'fhoilsigh mé" sna cúigí eile... Níl canúint ar bith ina n-abróchaí fhoilsíos nó fhoilsigh gan rud ineacht roimhe.