Basic Sentence Structures

To be (or not to be): Tá and Is

Irish has two different ways of expressing the English verb "to be".

• Tá is the verb "to be", used for describing people or things,

o where something is Ex. Tá mé seo. = I am here

o what state it is in Ex. Tá mé tuirse = I am tired

• Is is the copula, and is not quite a complete verb (a pseudo-verb); its most common use is to say
what something is, "I am a..." eg. "I am a teacher, I am a man" It is used for four main purposes:
o Classification, or saying that some specific thing fits into some class - in other words,
saying that the thing "is a" something, where the something is a general class rather than
a specific object

Is bó í sin = That is a cow

I am a teacher = Is mé muinteoir

o Identification, or saying that some specific thing, identified by a definite noun (usually a
noun with the article) or pronoun is the same as some other specific thing

Is í mo bhó í sin = That is my cow

o Emphasis, or moving certain sentence parts earlier in the clause to make them more
prominent to the listener or reader. English often uses tone of voice, accented syllables to
do this, but Irish primarily relies on word order

Is i nDia a cuirimid ár muinín = In God we trust

Cuirimid ár muinín i nDia = We trust in God

o Questions use a special form of the copula: "An." For example "

An fear é Seán? = Is Seán a man?

• There are also instances in which the copula may safely be left out: "Is mise Seán" can
become simply "Mise Seán."
To Have (but not to hold):

In Irish to say someone has something you use either:

o the preposition ag (at, by, with) plus the name of the person

o the “conjugated” form of the preposition ag (based on the pronoun)

agam = with me againn = with us

agat = with you agaibh = with you

aige = with him acu = with them

aici = with her