Here is a new lesson for you! As always, this lesson is from:
www.taic.btinternet.co.uk/taic.htm
Lesson 4
Introduction to Adjectives
You saw in Lesson 1 that adjectives can be used predicately, following the verb To Be. The adjective never changes in this situation : Masculine noun - Tha am balach beag - The boy is small Feminine noun - Tha a' chaileag beag - The girl is small Plural nouns - Tha na balaich beag - The boys are small Tha na caileagan beag - the girls are small
However, an adjective must agree in both case and gender with the noun it directly describes. This is called the attribute position. For nominative (basic) forms of nouns these are as follows : Masculine singular (no change in adjective) Gille mòr - A big lad An gille mòr - The big lad Feminine singular (lenite adjective if possible) ? Caileag mhòr - A big girl A' chaileag mhòr - The big girl Plural nouns (add -a or -e to adjective) * Gillean mòra - Big lads Na gillean mòra - The big lads Caileagan mòra - Big girls Na caileagan mòra - The big girls
? All adjectives with initial consonant quality can be lenited except those beginning with l, n, r, sg, sm, sp or st. For example, caileag mhòr, caileag bheag but caileag sgìth. * The ending follows the Gàidhlig spelling rule. For example, if a syllable ends in a narrow vowel (i.e. i or e) then the following syllable must begin with a narrow vowel. Similarly if a syllable ends in a broad vowel (i.e. a, o or u) then the following syllable must begin with a broad vowel. Hence mòr >> mòra, glic (wise) >> glice .
The adjectives seo - this / these and sin - that / those never change in any position : Masculine an gille seo - this lad an gille mòr seo - this big lad na gillean seo - these lads na gillean mòra seo - these big lads an gille sin - that lad an gille mòr sin - that big lad na gillean sin - those lads na gillean mòra sin - those big lads Feminine a' chaileag seo - this girl a' chaileag bheag seo - this small girl na caileagan seo - these girls na caileagan beaga seo - these small girls a' chaileag sin - that girl a' chaileag bheag sin - that small girl na caileagan sin - those girls na caileagan beaga sin - those small girls
All nouns have either masculine or feminine gender in Gàidhlig. So when you want to describe something using its pronoun you must refer to it by either e or i for masculine and feminine nouns respectively. Both mean it :
Masculine pronoun
Tha an seòmar fuar - The room is cold Tha e fuar - It is cold
Feminine pronoun
Tha an eaglais fuar - The church is cold Tha i fuar - It is cold
NEW WORDS
Adjectives dearg - red dona - bad fada - long goirid - short gorm - blue, verdant green, bruised black & blue math - good inntinneach - interesting seo - this sin - that tinn - ill, sick ùr - new
Pronouns e - it (masculine subject) i - it (feminine subject)
EXERCISE 1 Translate into English 1.Chan eil an sgoil mhòr cho glan 2.Tha an eaglais bheag làn 3.An robh an sgian ùr geur? Cha robh 4.Bha am peann gorm tioram 5.Tha an litir seo inntinneach 6.Bha an taigh sin falamh 7.Tha an snàthad gheur salach 8.Tha an gille dona sin leisg 9.An robh an seòmar beag blàth? Cha robh 10.Cha robh a' chaileag bheag tinn
EXERCISE 2 Translate into Gàidhlig 1.Was the small book wet? No 2.The long river was very dirty 3.Was the new door dry? 4.The short floor was wet 5.That dirty mirror isn't new 6.The long peace was good 7.Was the house not empty? Yes 8.The hot fire was very good 9.That red hand is wet 10.The long night was cold 11.The blue boat isn't full 12.The bad girl wasn't pleased 13.That man is dry and warm 14.That long loch was high
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Slàn agus beannachd, Allen R. Alderman
'S i Alba tìr mo chridhe. 'S i Gàidhlig cànan m' anama. Scotland is the land of my heart. Gaelic is the language of my soul.
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