Gramadach

cuid a deich

An Aimsir Laithreach – Gach Lá (Present Tense - Everyday)�2 syllable broad verbs

In the present tense, there is no need to add a h like we did in the past tense.

Instead, we add an ending to the root of the verb. There are four different endings in the present tense. For 2 syllable broad verbs in the present tense, we remove the second syllable (or the aigh part) and add aíonn.

For example Ceannaigh becomes Ceannaíonn sé – He buys

The other difficult part is when we want to say “we” do something in the present tense. With broad

verbs in the present tense, we drop the second syallable and add aímid.

There is no mé in the present tense. Instead we add aim to the root of the verb for broad verbs.

For example Ceannaigh would become Ceannaim – I buy

For example Ceannaigh becomes Ceannaímid – We buy

An Aimsir Laithreach – Gach Lá (Present Tense - Everyday)�2 syllable broad verbs

The good news is that if a verb starts with a vowel in the present tense, the same rule still applies; just drop the second syllable and add aíonn to the end of the root of the verb.

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Athraigh would become Athraíonn sé – He changes

An Aimsir Laithreach – Gach Lá (Present Tense - Everyday)�2 syllable broad verbs

Ceisteach agus Diúltach (Questions and Negative)

To say that you didn’t do something, we put Ní before the verb, h after the first letter, drop the aigh add and aíonn after the verb e.g. gortaigh = Ní ghortaíonn sé.

To ask a question in the present tense, we put An before and aíonn after the verb. We also need to put an urú before the first letter of the verb e.g. An ngortaíonn tú? Seven letters and the vowels take an urú when you put An before it.

Look at the list below.

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d is the urú for t ar an dteach on the house

g is the urú for c ag an gcarr at the car

m is the urú for b ar an mbus at the bus

n is the urú for d ár ndeoch our drink

b is the urú for b dhá bpingin two cents

bh is the urú for f ar an bhfuinneog on the window

n is the urú for g ar an ngáirdín on the garden

An Aimsir Laithreach – Gach Lá (Present Tense - Everyday)�2 syllable broad verbs�Cleachtadh - Practice

ceannaigh to buy gortaigh to hurt rothaigh to cycle

ceannaím I buy gortaím I hurt rothaím I cycle

ceannaíonn tú You buy glanaíonn tú You hurts rothaíonn tú You cycle

ceannaíonn sé He buys glanaíonn sé He hurts rothaíonn sé He cycles

ceannaíonn sí She buys glanaíonn sí She hurts rothaíonn sí She cycles

ceannaímid We buy glanaímid We hurt rothaímid We cycle

ceannaíonn sibh You(pl) buy glanaíonn sibh You(pl) hurt rothaíonn sibh You (pl) cycle

ceannaíonn siad They buy glanaíonn siad They hurt rothaíonn siad They cycle

An gceannaíonn tú? Do you buy? An ngortaíonn tú? Do you hurt? An rothaíonn tú? Do you cycle?

Ní cheannaím I don’t buy Ní ghortaíonn sé He doesn’t hurt Ní rothaím I don’t cycle

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An Aimsir Laithreach – Gach Lá (Present Tense - Everyday)�2 syllable broad verbs

Quick Recap:

1. For verbs that begin with a vowel or a consonant, drop the aigh and add aíonn e.g. ceannaigh = ceannaíonn
2. There is no mé in the present tense. Instead for broad verbs, drop the aigh and add aím e.g. ceannaigh = ceannaím
3. We add aimid to broad verbs in the present tense when we want to say we did something e.g. ceannaigh = ceannaímid
4. To ask a question, we use An, an urú, drop the aigh and add aíonn e.g. ceannaigh = An gceannaíonn tú?
5. To say the negative, we use Ní, drop the aigh part, add a séimhiú (h) and aíonn e.g. Ní cheannaíonn sé.