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Gramadach

cuid a trí

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An Aimsir Chaite – Inné (The Past Tense - Yesterday)�1 syllable slender verbs

If a verb in the past tense begins with a consonant, a h (known as a séimhiú) is inserted after the first letter. We never use a séimhiú for verbs that begin with l, n and r.

For example:

Brís takes a séimhiú (h) in the past tense. The séimhiú (

h

) is inserted after the first letter.

Brís becomes B

rís mé

The only difficult part is when we want to say “we” did something in the past tense. With slender

verbs in the past tense, we add eamar onto the end of the stem along with putting the séimhiú after

the first letter.

B

rís

séimhiú (

h

) + we(

eamar

)

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An Aimsir Chaite – Inné (The Past Tense - Yesterday)�1 syllable slender verbs

If a verb in the past tense begins with a vowel, we put a D’ in front of the first letter.

For example:

The only difficult part is when we want to say “we” did something in the past tense. With slender

verbs in the past tense, we add eamar onto the end of the stem along with putting D’ in front of

the first letter.

éist

D’

+ we(

eamar

)

Éist would become D’éist in the past tense.

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An Aimsir Chaite – Inné (The Past Tense - Yesterday)�1 syllable slender verbs

If a verb in the past tense begins with an F, we put a

The only difficult part is when we want to say “we” did something in the past tense. With broad

verbs that begin with f in the past tense, we add amar onto the end of the stem along with putting

a D’ in front of and a h after the first letter.

D’

+ we(

amar

)

Fág would become

in the past tense.

f

ill

D’

in front of and a séimhiú (

h

) after the first letter.

For example:

f

ill

+

h

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An Aimsir Chaite – Inné (The Past Tense - Yesterday)�1 syllable slender verbs

Ceisteach agus Diúltach (Questions and Negative)

To ask a question in the past tense, we put Ar before the verb e.g. Ar bhrís tú? (Did you break?), Ar rith tú? (Did you run?), Ar eist tú? (Did you listen?)*

To say that you didn’t do something, we put Níor before the word e.g. Níor bhrís mé (I did not break), Níor fill mé (I did not return), Níor éist mé? (I did not listen)*

*Notice how we don’t use d’ when using the ceisteach agus diúltach

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An Aimsir Chaite – Inné (The Past Tense - Yesterday)�1 syllable slender verbs

Quick Recap:

  1. For verbs that begin with a consonant, add a h after the first letter e.g. brís= bhrís mé
  2. For verbs that being with a vowel, put a d’ in front of the word e.g. éist= d’éist mé
  3. For verbs that begin with an f, put a d’ in front of the first letter and a h after it e.g. fill = d’fhill mé
  4. For verbs that begin with l, n and r, no change is made in the past tense e.g. rith = rith mé
  5. To ask a question, we use Ar. To say the negative, we use Níor.