Hi, I am a bit confused about when it is correct to use 'go' and when 'go dtí' should be used. Could anyone help me out? Go raibh míle maith agaibh...

You'll find some good pointers on this site: http://www.nualeargais.ie/gnag/gram.htm. Look in Caibidil a Cúig under "unconjugated prepositions".

'go dtí' is mostly used with the definite article:

Chuaidh sé go dtí an siopa

Thats an oldie ''Chuaidh'' !

Normally, the difference is that you use "go dtí" when the following noun is preceded by the article, and "go" when it isn't.
Chuaigh mé go dtí an banc. I went to the bank.
Chuaigh mé go hIorras. I went to Erris.

You can't say *"go an banc".

In addition to use with the definite article an, it is more usual to use go dtí before possessive pronouns mo, do, a, ár (Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, 13.5, p115):

go dtí ár dteach

And it is used before é or í (Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, 13.16, p117):

go dtí é

There is also an expression go dtí go/nach meaning "until" (Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, 30.4, p280):

go dtí go bhfuair sé bás = go bhfuair sé bás = nó go bhfuair sé bás
go dtí nach raibh pingin fágtha aige

For me, for some reason, 'chuaidh' is more natural. I read that that was the normal form, till the makers of the Caighdeán, for some reason made it 'Chuaigh'

Brendán,
Lars mentions 'go' alone with the possessives. Are these very rare?

"Pronominal forms:

* There are only special pronominal forms for possessive pronouns

- with poss.pron.
with my go mo
with your go do
with his gona
with her gona
with our gonár
with your(pl.) go bhur
with their gona

I haven't encountered the other go at all, so I assume that it is much less common, but that may just mean I have not read widely enough yet. Have you seen it somewhere before, a Bhirn?


Ó Siadhail mentions another series in Connemara with some forms that sound just like go but are actually do :

do mo /gə mə/ to my
do do /gə də/ to your
dhá /γɑ:/ to his/its
dhá /γɑ:/ to her/its
dhár /γɑ:/ to our
dhár /γɑ:/ to your
dhá /γɑ:/ to their

They are used instead of the Tá sé ag déanamh ruda construction when the ruda is replaced with a possessive pronoun:

Tá sé do mo bhualadh /tɑ ∫e gə mə wu:əLə/ "He is hitting me."
Tá sé do do bhualadh /tɑ ∫e gə də wu:əLə/ "He is hitting you."

(In the Standard, I think these are just:
do mo /də mə/ to my
do do /də də/ to your
dá /dɑ:/or á /ɑ:/ to his/its
dá /dɑ:/or á /ɑ:/ to her/its
dár /dɑ:r/ to our
do bhur /də wur/ /də vur/ to your
dhá /dɑ:/or á /ɑ:/ to their)


Similarly, don in Connemara may be pronounced /gəN/.

So, not every /gə/ that you hear is necessarily go in the Standard.

Ya, I know about the Conemara forms, they may be what Lars is talking about there

In Ulster, normally we don't pronounce the "do" at all. But I guess there's "ag" instead of "do" historically:

Tá sé ag mo bhualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa mɔ wiˑəlˠuw]
ag do bhualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa d̪ˠɔ wiˑəlˠuw]
á bhualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa a wiˑəlˠuw]
á bualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa æ bʷiˑəlˠuw]
ag ár mbualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa aɾ mʷiˑəlˠuw]
ag mur mbualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa mɤɾ mʷiˑəlˠuw]
á mbualadh............... [t̪ˠæː ʃa a mʷiˑəlˠuw]

quote:

Lars mentions 'go' alone with the possessives. Are these very rare?

Le firinne a rá: They aren't rare. They are obsolete.

quote:

Ya, I know about the Conemara forms, they may be what Lars is talking about there

No. I didn't mean the pronounciation of de/do as [gə] in Cois Fharraige and Conamara.
I meant an old preposition "go" in the meaning of "with" (related to Latin cum)
It is only alive in such phrases as "go bhfios dom" or "go leith".
It is probably different from "go" and "go dtí" meaning "to, until".

But there are dialect forms as "go dtína" (to his) instead of Standard "go dtí a".

Lars

Which dialects would use 'go dtína"?

I would like to relaunch the question about go / go dtí. I was wondering myself when it was proper to use ''go'' with a regular indefinite noun. I've learned for example that one can say 'go maidin' as an adverbial expression to mean 'until morning'. But can ''go'' be as well used with any indefinite noun? So far, aside for that last adverbial expression, I have only seen it used with place nouns not requirring an article. In other words, would it be correct to say something like 'go háit' or 'go doras'?

Also, what is the difference between ''ag'' and ''go / go dtí'' in the meaning of going to someplace? O Siadhail says for example, that 'ag' can mean 'to' in the following sentence 'tá mé ag goil ag an dochtúr'. Later he tells that you can also use ''go'' to mean to. For e.g, 'go dtí an áit chéanna.'

Tá súil agam go raibh mo chuid ceisteannaí clear enough. Bhí deifir orm nuair a bhí mé ag scríobh é seo.

Go raibh maith agaibh!

quote:

In other words, would it be correct to say something like 'go háit' or 'go doras'?

As part of a phrase (ó áit go háit, ó dhoras go doras) it is possible.

In fact, even with "go maidin", I think a phrase is needed, e.g. oíche go maidin a bhí againn (we were up all night).

I'm not sure about the go/ag difference, but my gut feeling is that "go" implies movement in space or time.

go [réamhfhocal]
chun, a fhad le (dul go Corcaigh, suí go maidin, go glúine san uisce, go deo).

quote:

Which dialects would use 'go dtína"?

I'm not sure but I'd think in Munster.

quote:

Also, what is the difference between ''ag'' and ''go / go dtí'' in the meaning of going to someplace?

This "ag" is a slurred version of "chuig" used in Cois Fharraige/Conamara (and perhaps elsewhere).
Which version of "to" is used (chun, chuig (> ag), go, go dtí, do, ionsar, ...) depends on dialect, idiom, and perhaps personal preference.

There's "chun na Fraince", "chuig an Fhrainc", "chuig an bhFrainc", "don Fhrainc" and "go dtí an Fhrainc".

Lars