1. Irish Verbs: Basic Facts In theory, all verbs have an independent and dependent form in each tense, but in actuality only the small handful of irregular verbs actually maintain a difference in these forms, e.g.: tá = independent form of bí in the present tense. fuil = dependent form of bí in the present tense

2. Irish Verbs: Basic Facts, cont. All regular verbs in Irish fall into one of two “conjugations.”  The First Conjugation is very simple; the tense endings are added directly to the dictionary form of the verb.  The Second Conjugation has the almost identical tense endings to the First Conjugation except that there is an added long vowel in the ending.  NOTE: The 2 nd person singular imperative form of the verb is used as the dictionary form.

3. Identifying 1 st Conjugation Verbs 1 st Conjugation Verbs have three “shapes”:  1) Verbs with a dictionary form of one syllable, e.g.: Siúil, Dún, Rith, Glan, Nigh  2) Verbs with a dictionary form of two syllables ending in a LONG VOWEL + -(a)igh, e.g.: Léigh, Dóigh  3) Verbs with a dictionary form of two or more syllables which have a long vowel in the final syllable, e.g.: Sábháil, Péinteáil, Tiomáin

4. Identifying 2 nd Conjugation Verbs 2 nd conjugation verbs have two or more syllables in the dictionary form and have two basic “shapes”:  1) Either they end in CONSONANT + -(a)igh, e.g.: Buanaigh, Imigh, Éirigh, Ceannaigh  2) Or the final syllable has short vowel in it: Ceangail. Oscail, Imir, Inis

5. The Present Tense Endings It sounds complicated in theory, but in practice the difference between First and Second Conjugations is not really that difficult:  1 st Conjugation Ending: -(e)ann  2 nd Conjugation Ending: -(a)íonn  There are optional 1 st person inflections with the following endings:  1 st person sing.: -(a)im, (a)ím  1 st person pl.:-(a)imid, -(a)ímid

6. 1 st Conjugation Verbs Type 1:  Dún ====> Dúnann  Rith ====> Ritheann  Glan ====> Glanann Type 2:  Léigh ====> Léann  Brúigh ====> Brúann NOTE: Most of the Type 3 verbs which end in a narrow consonant have the consonant broadened before the Present Tense endings are added. There are some exceptions such as Tiomáin Type 3:  Taispeáin====>Taispeánann  Siúil ====> Siúlann  Sábháil ====> Sábhálann  Tiomáin ====> Tiomáineann

7. 2 nd Conjugation Verbs Type 1:  Imigh =====> Imíonn  Ceannaigh =====> Ceannaíonn  Éirigh=====> Éiríonn Type 2:  Oscail=====> Osclaíonn  Imir=====> Imríonn  Ceangail=====> Ceanglaíonn NOTE: Type 2 verbs are often “syncopated,” which is just a fancy word for deleting a syllable. Irish is generally resistant to long words and often erases syllables with short vowels in words of 3 syllables or more when it's at all pronounceable.

8. The Present Tense Preverbal Particles We've seen these before with tá: Negative: Ní L Interrogative: An N Negative Interrogative: Nach N