Been quiet here on the grammar front.

This is bugging me. The relative and the copula. I get most of it now but this is one thing that I ain't sure about.

'Fear ab ea é ar mhór leis deoch a ól'

This sentence is from an exercise in Ciarán Mac Murchaidh's Grammar book.

I take it this is an indirect relative clause as there is a subject- 'fear' - but I had thought that 'ab' was only used in direct relative clauses before vowels and fh- nouns like 'sin rud ab éasca a rá' but that 'ba' went before ea é í eisean pronouns.

So why:
'Múinteoirí ba ea tuismitheoirí an chailín sin' but 'fear ab ea é .. etc.'?

As always, grateful for help! Grmma.

'Múinteoirí ba ea tuismitheoirí an chailín sin'

after a vowel it is "ba"...

'fear ab ea é'

and after a consonant it is "ab".

Reason? Ease of pronunciation, I would venture.

(Message edited by ormondo on June 25, 2010)

Fair play to you Ormondo, thanks a million. So great to find that out at last!