I've been out of practice since having to deal with my job more, and now I'm able to get back into studying Gaeilge. I am having trouble understanding how to word sentences that have verbs that are not the main verb.

Such as: "I am going to sweep the floor tonight."

Would it be: "Táim ag dul a scuabann an urlár anocht."?

I would just like some clarification as to how you present these other verbs. Is the "a" in front of them correct and does that "a" cause lention?

The particle a here does cause lenition in cases in which it is possible. It is followed by the verbal noun (scuabadh). It is then followed by the genitive (an urláir).

Tá mé ag dul ag scuabadh an urláir

ag dul here denotes intention so you can use ag scuabadh after it

In Hiberno-English
I'm going cleaning the floor

(Message edited by crosáidí on August 13, 2010)

Go raibh maith agaibh, a Sheánw agus a Chrosáidí!

A Sheánw, that explains a lot. I'm still a bit rusty on the Genative case, especially how it changes the pronuciation so that it is recognizable in speech.

A Chrosáidí, that makes things a lot easier to remember. But are you sure a native speaker would say something like that? I wouldn't want to phrase something that would sound unnatural to a native speaker. But if it's used often enough then that would be a great sentence structure to use from now on.

I'm not a native speaker, though I read a lot - but I've not come across "dul" used that way ... rudaí nua gach lá!

I think I'd say "Táim chun an úrlár a scuabadh anocht"

eadaoin

Focail saibhir is ea dul

dul [ainm briathartha][ainmfhocal firinscneach den tríú díochlaonadh]
gluaiseacht (dul abhaile, anonn is anall); imeacht (cá ndeachaigh sé? rachaimid amach an sliabh); sroicheadh (bhí an t-uisce ag dul go glúine orm); rith (conas tá an scéal ag dul? seo mar a théann an chéad véarsa); cosaint (chuaigh sé pingin mhaith airgid); gabháil, tosú (dul a chodladh, ag léamh); a éirí le (chuaigh agam é a dhéanamh); léamh, tuiscint (is deacair dul amach ar an bhfear sin); teacht (chuaigh feabhas air); titim (ormsa a chuaigh an costas, an milleán); seasamh (is gearr le dul orainn é); teip, múchadh (tá sí ag dul as go mór; tá an lampa ag dul as; chuaigh díom é a dhéanamh); bheith dlite (bhí an méid sin ag dul dó); réiteach le (chuaigh an t-athrú bia go maith dó); imeacht as (dul faoi na gréine); luí isteach le (chuaigh sé sna saighdiúirí); athrú (ag dul i léig, in olcas; ag dul ó mhaith; dul le buile) le cosúlacht nó réiteach (lena máthair a chuaigh sí; ní théann an dá dhath le chéile; téann an deoch síos go maith leis); ceiliúradh, loiceadh (ná téigh siar ar d'fhocal; dul ar gcúl); briseadh, sárú (dul thar fóir; ní rachadh sé thar a fhocal; níl aon dul thairis); polladh (chuaigh an fuacht tríom); caitheamh (ag dul trí airgead); seans (níl aon dul aige air); leagan (dul cainte); bail (ar an dul ina raibh sé); am, ócáid (den dul seo; ar an gcéad dul síos).

Why not say:

Scuabfaidh mé an t-urlár anocht.

An t-urlár? Scuabfaidh mise é. Anocht.

Táimse ag gabháil a scuabadh an urláir.
Táimse ag dul a scuabadh an urláir.
Táim ag dul an t-urlár a scuabadh?

There are two issues one of which at least Lughaidh may be able to verify: I am not sure if "ag dul a scuabadh an urláir" is acceptable for "I am going to sweep the floor". It is the "a scuabadh" I am worried about. Is that structure in the spoken language or is a recent Béarlachas? Would "Táim ag dul an t-urlár a scuabadh" be acceptable?

The second problem is that the word "dul" will rarely be heard in speech and seems to be subsumed into "gabháil" (pronounced "guill" -- like "gull" but with the slender lls ~ill" so in some dialects you will hear "Cá'il tú ag goil?" Where are you going. I think this is valid for Connacht Irish. I don't know about Gaelainn na Mumhan or Gaeilg Uladh.

quote:

Scuabfaidh mé an t-urlár anocht.

It's ok.

quote:

Táimse ag gabháil a scuabadh an urláir.

this one mixes-up dialects.
"Táimse" is Munster
"ag gabháil" is Connemara and Ulster
"a scuabadh" in this context is mainly Ulster.

Roughly:
Munster: Táimse ag dul ag scuabadh an urláir.
Connemara: Tá mise ag gabháil ag scuabadh an urláir.
Ulster: Tá mise ag gabháil a scuabadh an urláir.

quote:

Táim ag dul an t-urlár a scuabadh?

looks wrong...

quote:

It is the "a scuabadh" I am worried about. Is that structure in the spoken language or is a recent Béarlachas?

no it's right in the sentence I wrote.
The structures with "ag" may be more recent than the one with "a". The structure with "a" is older, and exists in Scottish Gaelic as well.

quote:

Would "Táim ag dul an t-urlár a scuabadh" be acceptable?

No.

quote:

The second problem is that the word "dul" will rarely be heard in speech

it is used in Munster (pronounced as is it were written "dol" - it is used and written "dol" in Scotland).

quote:

and seems to be subsumed into "gabháil" (pronounced "guill" -- like "gull" but with the slender lls ~ill"

but it's a single slender l, ie. it's slightly palatalised, while your "guill" would have a "ly"-sounding l (as in "million").

quote:

so in some dialects you will hear "Cá'il tú ag goil?" Where are you going. I think this is valid for Connacht Irish. I don't know about Gaelainn na Mumhan or Gaeilg Uladh.

Connemara : "Cá'il tú 'goil?" (actually you wouldn't hear the "ag" in this context)
Ulster: idem, or "Cáit a bhfuil tú 'goil?"
Munster, I guess : "Cá vuil tú 'dol?" (with bhf- pronounced as v).

Lughaidh: Go raibh maith agat.

I had never heard of "gabháil". I will need to look that one up. The book I had to study didn't have that used. It had "ag dul".

And I just wondered... Why do you use "Táimse" and "mise" instead of just "Táim" and "Tá mé"? Is it structurally important to that kind of sentence, or just a preference?

quote:

I had never heard of "gabháil".

Probably because you've only seen books in/about standard Irish and never heard native speakers from Connachta or Donegal? :-) It's a pity "gabháil" isn't taught more than that...

quote:

The book I had to study didn't have that used. It had "ag dul".

That's the verbal noun that has be chosen to be the standard form... although that's not what most native speakers use (as usual).

Anyway, now you know "gabháil" :-)
It is pronounced /gol'/.

quote:

I had never heard of "gabháil".

Ag gabháil is equivalent to ag dul. Some writers try to hit the middle of the road and use ag dhul.

quote:

Why do you use "Táimse" and "mise" instead of just "Táim" and "Tá mé"?

Here is the way to understand it:

1. If you use táim, you'll emphasize that by using táimse.
2. If you use tá mé, you'll emphasize that by using tá mise.

Again, they are equivalent, but represent different pronunciations. You would use the emphasized form most often just as you would in English. In English this is usually shown by italics or by saying I myself.

Ex. I'm not going to take part in that madness.
Níl mise {nó Nílimse} ag glacadh páirte sa ruaille buaille seo.

There's a useful article here on the infinitive from the BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/education/beginnersblas/infiniti ve.shtml

Can't seem to be able to copy and paste from it but at the very end of the article it discusses the 'going to..' construction.

Another source on this is Ó Siadhail in 'Learning Irish' page 67 under "The preposition AG with verbal noun". He gives examples:

Tá Máirtín ag goil ag foghlaim Spáinnis.
Beidh sé ag tosaí ag foghlaim Spáinnis amáireach.

And then he says:
"AG + verbal noun can be used after certain verbs of perception, e.g. feicim, cloisim; of motion, e.g. teacht,goil; and certain verbs marking the beginning or duration of an action e.g. tosaí, goil.

quote:

Ag gabháil is equivalent to ag dul. Some writers try to hit the middle of the road and use ag dhul.

That's wrong, because it isn't what people say : they don't say [əg γulˠ]. And "ag" doesn't lenite... It may mislead learners. It'd be much easier to explain that dul=gabháil...

In the Blas' article, they say "instead of saying Ta mé ag dul a fhoghlaim Gaeilge you can say Ta mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge".
That's stupid since they don't mean the same thing...
And anyway the first one isn't more difficult, you just need to know how to put a lenition on a consonant, the kind of thing you learn in your second Irish class...