PASSIVE VOICE.

Affirmative Mood.

Simple Tenses.

Negative Mood.

Subjunctive Mood.

Compound Tenses

Affirmative Mood.

Negative Mood.

Subjunctive Mood.

Examples of Verbs of the Second Conjugation.

Orduich, to appoint.

ACTIVE VOICE.

Simple Tenses

Folaich, to hide.

ACTIVE VOICE.

The Compound tenses may be easily learned from those of the Verb Buail in the first Conjugation, being formed exactly in the same manner.

Formation of the Tenses.

Of the Initial Form.

An Initial Consonant is aspirated in the Preterite Tense, through all the Moods and Voices, except in the Preterite Subjunctive after the Particles ni, mur, nach, gu, an, am. An initial Consonant is occasionally aspirated in the Future Tense, and in the Infinitive and Participle, indicating their connection with the preceding word.

In the first Conjugation, do is prefixed to the Pret. Aff. and Neg. Active and Passive. However, it often is, and always may be, omitted before the Pret. Aff. It is sometimes omitted in the Pret. Neg. in verse, and in common conversation. In the second Conjugation, the same Particle do is prefixed to the Preterite through all the Moods and Voices, and to the Fut. Subj. excepting only the Subjunctive Tenses after ni, mur, nach, gu, an, am. In this Conjugation, do always loses the o to avoid a hiatus, and the d is aspirated in the Affirm. and Subjunct. Moods^[49].

Of the Termination.

In all regular Verbs, the Terminations adjected to the Root are, strictly speaking, the same in Verbs characterised by a small vowel. But where the first vowel of the Termination does not correspond in quality to the last vowel of the Root, it has become the constant practice to insert in the Termination a vowel of the requisite quality, in order to produce this correspondence. Thus a variety has been introduced into the Terminations even of regular Verbs, prejudicial to the uniformity of inflection, and of no use to ascertain either the sense or the pronunciation^[50]. In the foregoing examples of regular Verbs, the common mode of Orthography has been followed, but in the following rules the simple Terminations only are specified.

ACTIVE VOICE.

Simple Tenses.

The Theme or Root of the Verb is always found in the second Per. sing. of the imperative.

The Preterite Affirm. and Negat. is like the Root, and has no distinction of Number or Person. In most of the editions of the Gaelic Psalms, some inflections of the Preterite have been admitted, with good effect, from the Irish Verb; such as, bhuaileas I struck, bhuailis thou didst strike, bhuaileamar we struck, bhuaileadar they struck. The Pret. Subj. is formed by adding to the Root inn for the first pers. sing., and adh for the other persons. The first pers. plur. also terminates in amaid.

The Future Affirm. adds idh to the Root; in the Negat. it is like the Root; and in the Subjunct. it adds as. A poetic Future Tense terminating in ann or onn, is frequent in the Gaelic Psalms; as, gairionn will call, seasfann will stand, do bheirionn, will give, &c. The Future has no distinction of Number or Person. The Termination of the Future Affirm. and Negat. in many Verbs was formerly fidh, like the Irish; of which many examples occur in the earlier editions of the Gaelic Psalms. In later Gaelic publications, the f has been uniformly set aside^[51]. The Termination of the first pers. and third pers. plur. is often incorporated with the corresponding Pronoun; as, seinnam cliu I will sing praise, Psal. lxi. 8., Ni fuigham bàs, ach mairfam beo, I shall not die, but shall remain alive, Ps. cxviii. 17., Ithfid, geillfid, innsid, they will eat, they will submit, they will tell, Ps. xxii, 26, 29, 31. ^[52].

In the Imperative Mood, the second pers. sing. is the Root of the Verb. The other persons are distinguished by these Terminations; 1st pers. sing. am, 3d pers. sing. adh, 1st pers. plur. amaid, 2d pers. plur. ibh, 3d pers. plur. adh.

The Terminations peculiar to the 1st pers. sing. and plur. of the Pret. Subj. and of the Imperat. supply the place of the Personal Pronouns; as does also the Termination of the 2d pers. plur. of the Imperative.

The Infinitive is variously formed.

General Rule. The Infinitive is formed by adding adh to the Root; as, aom bow, incline, Infin. aomadh; ith eat, Infin. itheadh.

1. Some Verbs suffer a syncope in the penult syllable, and are commonly used in their contracted form; as,

Observe that Verbs which thus suffer a syncope in forming the Infinitive, suffer a like syncope in the Preterite Subjunctive, and in the Imperative Mood; as, innis tell, Infin. innseadh, Pret. Subj. innsinn, innseadh, innseamaid, Imperat. innseam, innseamaid, innsibh.

2. A considerable number of Verbs have their Infinitive like the Root; as,

3. Polysyllables in ch, whose characteristic Vowel is small, either throw it away, or convert it into a broad Vowel and add adh; as,

Most Monosyllables in sg, and a few others, follow the same Rule; as,

4. Many Verbs, whose characteristic Vowel is small, either throw it away, or convert it into a broad Vowel, without adding adh; as,

5. The following Verbs in air add t to the Root:—

6. These Monosyllables add sinn to the Root:—

7. These Monosyllables add tuinn or tinn to the Root:—

8. The following Monosyllables add ail to the Root:—

9. These Monosyllables add amh to the Root:—

10. The following Verbs form the Infinitive irregularly:—

Compound Tenses.

The compound Tenses of the first order are made up of the several simple Tenses of the auxiliary verb Bi be, and the Infinitive preceded by the Preposition ag at. Between two Consonants, ag commonly loses the g, and is written a'; as, ta iad a' deanamh they are doing. Between two Vowels, the a is dropped, and the g is retained; as, ta mi 'g iarruidh I am asking. When preceded by a Consonant, and followed by a Vowel, the Preposition is written entire, as, ta iad ag iarruidh they are asking. When preceded by a Vowel, and followed by a Consonant, it is often suppressed altogether; as, ta mi deanamh I am doing^[53].

The compound Tenses of the second order are made up of the simple Tenses of Bi and the Infinitive preceded by the Preposition iar after^[54].

PASSIVE VOICE.

Simple Tenses.

The Preterite Affirm. and Negat. is formed from the same Tense in the Active, by adding adh. The Preter. Subj. adds teadh.

The Future is formed from the Fut. Act. by changing the Terminations in the Affirm. and Subj. into ar, (more properly far, as of old) and adding the same syllable in the Negative.

The Imperative is formed from the Imperat. Act. by adding to the second pers. sing. tar, thar, or ar.^[55]

The Participle is formed by adding te to the Root^[56].

There is no distinction of Number or Person in the Tenses of the Passive Voice.

Verbs which suffer a syncope in the Infinitive, suffer a like syncope in the Pret. Aff. and Neg. throughout the Future Tense, and in the Imperative.

Compound Tense.

The compound Tenses of the first order are made up of the simple Tenses of the auxiliary Bi and the Passive Participle.

The compound Tenses of the second order are made up of the simple Tenses of Bi and the Infinitive preceded by the Preposition iar and the Possessive Pronoun corresponding in Person to the Pronoun, or to the Noun, which is the Nominative to the verb.

Use and Import of the Moods and Tenses.

The Affirmative or Indicative Mood expresses affirmation, and is used in affirmative propositions only, as, Do bhuail mi I struck, bha mi ag bualadh I was striking.

The Negative or Interrogative Mood is used in negative propositions and interrogative clauses, after the Particles ni not, cha not, nach which not, that not, not? mur if not; also, gu, gur, that, an, am, whether used relatively or interrogatively; as, cha d'fholaich mi I did not hide, mur buail sinn if we shall not strike, nach robh iad that they were not, gu robh iad that they were; am buail mi? shall I strike? It is used in the Future Tense after ged although; as, ged bhuail e mi, though he strike me^[57].

The Subjunctive Mood is used in the Preterite, either with or without conjunctions; as, bhuailinn I would strike, na'm, mur, nach, &c., buailinn if, unless, &c., I should strike. In the Future it is used only after the conjunctions ma if, o, o'n since, and the Relative a expressed or understood; as, ma bhuaileas mi if I shall strike, am fear a bhuaileas mi the man who will strike me, or the man whom I shall strike; an uair a bhuaileas mi, tra bhuaileas mi the time [in] which I shall strike, i. e., when I shall strike; c'uin [cia ùine] a bhuaileas mi? what [is] the time [in] which I shall strike? i. e., when shall I strike?

The Imperative Mood expresses desire, whether purpose, command, or request; as, buaileam let me strike, buailibh strike ye.

The Infinitive^[58] is, in all respects, a noun, denoting the action or energy of the verb, and commonly preceded by a Preposition which marks the time of the action; as, ag bualadh at striking, am bualadh the striking, the threshing. It assumes a regular genitive case, bualadh g. s. bualaidh; as, urlar-bualaidh a threshing floor. The Infinitive sometimes loses the termination, and is regularly declined in its abridged form; thus, cruinnich assemble, inf. cruinneach-adh per. apocop. cruinneach g. s. cruinnich; hence, àite-cruinnich a place of meeting, Acts xix. 29, 31, so, fear-criochnaich, Heb. xii. 2, fear-cuidich, Psalm xxx. 10, liv. 4, ionad-foluich, Psalm xxxii. 7, cxix. 114, litir-dhealaich, Matt. v. 31^[59].

There is no part of the Active Voice that can, strictly speaking, be denominated a Participle. The Infinitive preceded by the Preposition ag at, corresponds in meaning to the present Participle; and preceded by iar after, it corresponds to the participle of the past time; as, ag bualadh at striking, or striking; iar bualadh after striking, or struck^[60].

Many words, expressing state or action, take the Preposition ag before them, and may be considered as Infinitives of Verbs, whereof the other parts are not in use; as, ag atharrais mimicking, ag gàireachdaich laughing, a' fanoid, a' magadh mocking, jeering.

The Participle passive is an adjective, denoting the completion of the action or energy expressed by the verb; as, arbhar buailte threshed corn.

The Simple Tenses which belong to all verbs are the Preterite or Future, besides which the verb Bi to be, and the defective verb Is I am, have a Present Tense^[61].

The Present expresses present existence, state, or energy.

The Preterite Affirmative and Negative expresses past time indefinitely. The Preterite Subjunctive corresponds to the English Tenses formed by the auxiliaries would, could, &c. In general it denotes that the action or energy of the verb takes place eventually or conditionally. The Pret. Aff. or Neg. is used sometimes in this sense, like the English, when the Pret. Subj. occurred in the preceding clause of a sentence, as, na'm biodh tus' an so, cha d' fhuair mo bhrathair bàs, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not [would not have] died; mur bitheamaid air deanamh moille bha sinn a nis air pilltinn air ar n-ais, if we had not lingered, we had [should have] now returned, Gen. xliii. 10.

The Future marks future time indefinitely. This Tense is used in a peculiar sense in Gaelic, to signify that an action or event takes place uniformly, habitually, according to ordinary practice, or the course of nature. Thus; Blessed is he that considereth the poor, expressed according to the Gaelic idiom, would be, Blessed is he that will consider, &c. A wise son maketh a glad father, in Gaelic would run, A wise son will make, &c. Your patient, I am told, is in a bad way; he neither enjoys rest, nor takes medicine. Nay, his situation is worse than you know of; yesterday, he became delirious, and is now almost unmanageable; he tosses his arms, and endeavours to beat every one within his reach. In Gaelic, will enjoy—will take—will toss—will endeavour. In like manner, a great many Gaelic Proverbs express a general truth by means of the Future tense; e.g., bithidh dùil ri fear feachd, ach cha bhi dùil ri fear lic, There is hope that a man may return from war, but there is no hope that a man may return from the grave; literally, there will be hope—there will be no hope. Teirgidh gach ni r' a chaitheamh, every thing wears out in the using; literally,—will wear out^[62].

The Compound Tenses mark different modifications of time, which will be easily understood by analysing their component parts.

In the Active Voice, the compound tenses of the first order denote that the action is going on, but not completed at the time specified by the auxiliary verb, or its adjuncts; as, ta mi ag bualadh, I am at striking, i.e., I am striking; bha mi ag bualadh an dé, I was striking yesterday.

Those of the second order denote that the action is newly completed and past, at the time marked by the auxiliary verb; ta mi iar bualadh, I am after striking, i.e., I have struck, Je viens de frapper; Bha mi iar bualadh, I was striking, i.e., I had struck.

In the Passive Voice, the compound tenses of the first order denote that the action is finished at the time marked by the auxiliary verb; ta mi buailte, I am struck.

Those of the second order denote that the action is newly finished at the time marked by the auxiliary^[63]; ta mi iar mo bhualadh, I am after my striking, or, I am after the striking of me, which has always a passive signification; that is, it is always understood, from this form of expression, that striking is the action of some agent different from the person struck. It is equivalent to I have been struck, Je viens d'etre frappé.

A set of Compound Tenses, of a structure similar to these last, having the preposition ag, in place of iar, is sometimes used, and in a passive sense, denoting that the action is going on at the time marked by the auxiliary; as, tha 'n tigh 'g a thogail, the house is at its building, i.e., a-building; sea bliadhna agus da fhichead bha 'n teampull 'g a thogail, forty and six years was this temple in building. John ii. 20, 1 Kings vi. 7. Bha an crodh 'g an leigeadh, the cows were a-milking; bidh deudaichean 'g an rusgadh. "Gillies' Collect." p. 82. So in English, the book is a-printing; the deed's a-doing now, "Douglas," Act 1.

The following scheme shows the different modifications of time, as expressed by the several Tenses of the Gaelic Verb, brought together into one view, and compared with the corresponding Tenses of the Greek Verb in Moor's Greek Grammar.

It will afford satisfaction to the grammatical reader, to see how correctly the various modifications of time, as distinguished and arranged by Mr Harris, are expressed in the Gaelic verb, by the auxiliaries, bi be, and dol going. See Hermes B. I. c. 7.

Irregular Verbs of the First Conjugation.

Irregular Verbs of the Second Conjugation.